
Glass 



, 



Book 



/*/ 



THE 

CHRISTIAN'S MANUAL, 

COMPILED FROM THE 

ENCHIRIDION MILITIS CHRISTIANI 

OF 

ERASMUS, 

WITH 

COPIOUS SCRIPTURE NOTES 

AND 

COMMENTS ON SEVERAL FATAL ERRORS 

IN 

Eeltgion anO s^oralttp* 

PREFIXED IS 

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE AUTHOR, 



HrS RECEPTION IN ENGLAND, 

AND 

CORRESPONDEN CE. 



PHILIP WYATT CKOWTHER, ESQ* 



Take the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the 
Word of God." Ephes. vi. 17. 



FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE 

CITY OF LONDON AUXILIARY NATIONAL SCHOOLS. 

" Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." Matt, xxn.29*. 



Hottinm ; 

Printed by A. J. Valpy, Tookes Court, Chancery Lane. 

SOLD BY F. C. AND J. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S 

CHURCHYARD ; AND J. HATCHARD, 

PICCADILLY. 



d* 



oi 






TO 

HER ROYAL HIGHNESS 
THE PRINCESS AUGUSTA SOPHIA, 

AS A TRIBUTE 



THE EXALTED PIETY AND PHILANTHROPY, 

WHICH GrVE SPLENDID LUSTRE TO HER STATION, 
AND PROVE 

THAT CHRISTIANITY IS THE BRIGHTEST ORNAMENT, 
THIS BOOK 

IS, WITH 

HER ROYAL HIGHNESS'S 

GRACIOUS PERMISSION, 
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 

BY HER MOST FAITHFUL 

AND OBEDIENT SERVANT, 

PHILIP WYATT CROWTHER. 

London, 16th May, 1316. 



PREFACE. 



V3 HARMED w ^h the pious zeal and benevolence dis- 
played in the Enchiridion, and convinced of its salutary 
power, I offer a new edition. Solicitude for the diffu- 
sion of such exalted sentiments overcame my objections 
to the task. I have availed myself of a former translation 
of the Enchiridion, but not without attempting to do 
greater justice to the manly and persuasive eloquence 
of Erasmus. Some passages of the original are omitted 
and others altered, to render the work more generally 
beneficial. The Enchiridion shows that life is a warfare 
with the devil, the world and our unruly passions, and 
provides weapons to subdue our prevailing sins. We are 
excited to fight bravely by the most glorious rewards and 
terrible punishments. Christ is our great Captain; 
we must obey and follow him. 



VI PREFACE. 

I have drawn copiously from the well of water spring- 
ing up into everlasting life, l and poured it on most 
pages, that the reader may satisfy his thirst. He must 
not go to the stream corrupted by human doctrines and 
customs, but drink from the fountain head. 

By the recommendation of my author 2 and others * 
I have introduced the opinions of celebrated moral 
writers. 

Seize oh truth where'er 'tis found, 

Among your friends, among your foes, 

On Christian, or on Heathen ground. 

The flower's divine where'er it grows: 

Neglect the prickles and assume the rose. Watts. 

I have adopted the language of others in preference 
to my own ; but consider myself responsible for every 
sentiment in this work, and scorn the aegis of any name. 

I have expatiated on Ethics to confute many popular 
errors. How strenuously does St. Paul inculcate that 
a belief of Christianity without works is dead. 4 The 
end of the commandment is charity out of a pure 
heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned} 
And St. John : he thai doeth good is of God : but he that 
doeth evil hath not seen God. 3 John 1 1 . 



1 John iv. 14. * Ep. 853. 

3 Austin de Doctr. Christi. I. 2. n. 6. Aug. ib. I. 4. n. 55. et contr. 
Julian c. xii. n. 60. Rollin Belles Lettres b. iv. pt. 1. s. vii. p. 297' 

4 James ii. 26. 1 Cor. xiii. Gal. v. 6. 

5 1 Tim.i. 5. Matt. vii. 21. Luke vi. 46-49. 



PREFACE. vK 

Erasmus exclaims, "We have been stunned long 
enough with the ery of Gospel, Gospel, Gospel, we 
want Gospel manners." 1 And in his Colloquy, " Evai> 
geliophorus," he thus unmasks hypocrisy, " A man does 
not carry the Gospel in his heart, unless he loves it 
with all his soul ; nobody loves it as he ought that does 
not adapt his life to it." And Grotius observes, " not 
they who call one by the name of Father, and the other 
by the name of Lord, shall live for ever ; but they who 
conform their lives to his will." * 

The biographers of Erasmus are numerous, yet their 
writings are more calculated to gratify the learned, than to 
interest the general reader. I have benefited by their labors. 
My detail is confined to his residence in England ; and 
I hope the good humour of Erasmus will communicate 
itself to the reader, and engage his attention to the 
author, and indulgence for the editor. I have no pre- 
tensions to literary fame, neither do I value learning but 
as it makes us better Christians. The knowledge of 
our duty should be the end of all our studies, and the 
discharge thereof our greatest care : this is the one thing 
needful ; 5 and my design is to promote religious and 
moral improvement. 4 

" On piety, humanity is built ; 

And on humanity, much happiness ; 

And yet still more on piety itself/' Young , JV. viii. 

* Ep. 946. * Of the truth of the Christian Religion, b. vi. s. xi. 

3 Luke x. 42. 

4 Matt. vii. 12. xxii. 36—40. Mark xii. 29—31. Luke x. 29—37. 
1 John iii. 23. 



Vlll PREFACE. 

Let not my sentiments be weighed by the false stand- 
ard of custom, but by the real standard of Scriptures, 
by which we shall be judged in the last day. 1 To them I 
appeal. Prejudice has never guided my pen, or appre* 
hension of worldly censure checked it* 
" If I am right, thy grace impart, 

Still in the right to stay ; 
If I am wrong, oh teach my heart 
To find that better way." 

Let us cease malevolent reflections upon the tenets of 
our brethren ; be content with their Christian morals, 
and if they err in belief or mode of worship count them 
not as enemies, but admonish them as brethren* We 
should cast away all animosities, and profane and vain 
babblings and oppositions of science* falsely so called: 
which some professing have erred concerning the faith ;* 
and cherish brotherly love. Do all things without mur- 
mur ings and dispulings. Phil. ii. 14. With all lowli- 
ness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one 
another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the 
spirit in the bond of peace. 4 " Would it not be better 
to refer many disputed points to the blessed time, when 
we shall see God face to face." 5 Alas ! we cavil and 
contend for particular doctrines, instead of securing our 
eternal salvation by performing the commandments of 
God. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without 

1 Johnxii. 48. a <2 Thess. iii. 15. 3 1 Tim. vi. 20. ftU 

4 Ephes. iv. 2. 3. 
5 1 Cter. xiii. J 2. Erasmus in Pref. to " Works of Hilary." 



PREFACE. IX 

which no man shall see the Lord. 1 Be careful to main- 
tain good zvorks. But avoidfoolish questions, and gene- 
alogies, and contentions, and strivings, about the law ; 
for they are unprofitable and vain. Titus iii. 8. 9. 

It is the duty of all to conform to non-essentials, that 
peace may be preserved ; yet no human institutions or 
traditions should influence our faith or practice, unless 
they correspond with the Gospel. This is the unerring 
touchstone ; search the Scriptures, 7, honestly and dili- 
gently ; not to confirm your prejudices by relying on 
detached passages, and wresting them to your everlast- 
ing perdition, but to discover the truth. 

If this work emancipate one from the bondage of sin, 
or strengthen the Christian principles of an individual, 
I shall enjoy the sweet reflection that my leisure has 
been alike profitable to society and myself. Finally, 
brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be 
of one mind, live in peace ; and the God of love and 
peace shall be zvith you. 2 Cor. xiii. 11. 



1 Heb. xii. 14. 

* John v. 39. Acts xvii. 11. 1 John iv. 1. 



Ch. Ma. 



Contents 



PAGE 

Chap. I. Of the duty of Watching ------ 1 

Chap. II. Of the Christian Armour ------ 26 

Chap. III. Of the Knowledge of one's self ; and the two 

kinds of Wisdom, true and false - .- - 34 

Chap. IV. Of the outer and inner Man ----- 38 

Chap. V. Of the different passions and inclinations of 

Men -----------41 

Chap. VI. Of the inner Man, and the Scripture account 

of both parts of him ------- 46 

Chap. VII. Of Spirit, Soul, and Body ; or the three con- 
stituent parts of Man ------ 4$ 

General Rules of true Religion ------- 52 

Rule I. The Necessity of Faith ---.--- 58 

Rule II. Of Irresolution ---------- 79 

Rule III. The comparative ease and happiness of a re- 
ligious and irreligious life ----- 84 
Rule IV. That Christ is the end of all things « - - - 88 
Rule V. The duty of placing our affections on things 

above ----------- 103 



Xll CONTENTS. PAGE 

Rule VI. That Christ is the only pattern of Christians : 

and of vulgar errors in morality - - - 132 

Rule VII. Of slender improvements in virtue - - - 185 
Rule VIII. Against being discouraged by temptations and 

afflictions ----------187 

Rule IX. Of resisting the first motions to sin - - - - 190 

Rule X. Various ways of overcoming temptations - - 191 

Rule XL Against presumption and despair - - - - lb. 

Rule XII. Of the improvement that may be made of 

temptations - - - ----- *. 192 

Rule XIII. That we ought always to be upon our guard 1$3 
Rule XIV. Against excusing our own sins, and con- 
demning those of others - - - - - 19* 

Rule XV. Of the comparative pain and pleasure of re- 
sisting or yielding to a temptation - - - 195 
Rule XVI. Against Despair -------- lb. 

Rule XVII. The benefits of the Cross of Christ - - - 196 

Rule XVIII. Of the dignity of man 198 

Rule XIX. The difference between serving God and the 

Devil 200 

Rule XX. The different rewards of virtue and vice - - 201 

Rule XXI. Of the shortness of life - ------ 206 

Rule XXII. Of the danger of final impenitence - - - 207 

Special Rules against some particular Sins. 

Rule I. Against fornication --------- 20£ 

Rule II. Against avarice ---------- 212 

Rule III. Against ambition ----.----215 

Rule IV. Against pride -----217 

Rule V. Against anger, revenge, and different sins - - 219 



SOME ACCOUNT 

OF 

ERASMUS, 

HIS i 

RECEPTION IN ENGLAND 

AND 

CorregponBence, 



Erasmus was born at Roterdam, 2Sth October, 1467, the 
Illegitimate son of Gerard, a native of Tergou, by Margaret, the 
daughter of Peter, a physician of Sevenbergen, a town in Bra- 
bant, three leagues from Breda, 

Gerard's relations wished him to become an ecclesiastic j to 
avoid their importunities he removed to Rome, where he acquired 
considerable knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages, and 
the civil law ; and maintained himself by transcribing ancient 
authors ; the art of printing being then but lately invented. 1 His 
relations, to prevent his revisiting his beloved Margaret, falsely 



1 John Guttemberg or Gansfleisch, of Mentz, invented printing An. 
1438. Sehoeffer perfected the invention at Strasbourg, by casting the 
types in an iron mould or matrix, engraven with a puncheon. 

Thomas Caxton, a citizen of London, set up a printing press in the 
Abbey of St. Peter, Westminster, An. 1471. It was afterwards intro- 
duced into the monasteries. Vide Stow's Annals, p. 404. 

The origin of printing is ably investigated by Home in his " Introduc- 
tion to the Study of Bibliography," Vol.'u p. 144. 

Ck. Ma, a 



ii Some Account of Erasmus. 

stated she was dead. Upon this mournful intelligence he took 
orders ; and when he returned to Holland, and discovered the 
imposition, he strictly observed his religious vow, and withdrew 
from her society. 

Erasmus, from the harmony of his voice, was appointed a 
chorister of Utrecht Cathedral, and at the age of nine went to 
school at Deventer, where his mother settled to watch his infant 
years. She died of the plague when her son was thirteen. 
Gerard was so affected at her death, that he did not long sur- 
vive. They were respectively aged about forty. 

At Deventer, Erasmus was distinguished by a great memory, 
and could repeat all Terence and Horace by heart. " Rodol- 
phus Agricola, having read the exercises of the scholars of his 
friend Hegius, who had made the school at Deventer very fam- 
ous, found that of Erasmus the best of them all, and desired to 
see that young scholar, who was then fourteen years old ; he 
was called out of the school to salute Agricola, who, taking him 
by the head, told him, < you will one day be a great man.' " 5 

" John Sintheimus, one of the best masters in the College of 
Deventer, was so well satisfied with Erasmus's improvement, 
that he embraced and kissed him, saying, « cheer up, you will 
one day attain the highest pitch of learning.' " z 

Erasmus formed a friendship with Adrianus Florentinus, 
afterwards Pope Adrian the 6th. 

Gerard had appointed three guardians ; who, the more easily 
to defraud Erasmus of his little patrimony, resolved to devote 
him to a religious life j he was so disgusted with the arrogance 
and ignorance of the monks, that the guardians were compelled 
to remove him from one convent to another, until, at the con- 



1 Val. Andr. Bibl. Bclg. p. 175. 

a Beat. Ithenan. Ep, pracf. oper. Eras. ed. 1540. 



Some Account of Erasmus, Hi 

vent of Stein, near Tergou, they induced him to make his pro- 
fession, in 1486. 

Peter, the elder brother of Erasmus, pursued a dissolute 
career and perished early. 

Erasmus was exemplary for assiduity. " In his youth he took 
the name of Erasmus, having before gone by that of Gerard, 
which in the German language means amiable. Following the 
fashion qf learned men of those times, who affected to give their 
names a Latin. 1 or a Greek turn, he called himself Desiderius, 
which in Latin, and Erasmus, which in Greek hath the same 
signification. Afterwards he was sensible that he should rather 
have called himself Erasmius ; and he gave this name to his 
godson, Joannes Erasmius Frobenius." z He also called himself 
Roterodamus, from his native city. 

The fastings and austerities of a monastery were unsuitable 
to his health, 3 and in 1490, he gladly accepted an invitation from 
Henry a Bergis, Bishop of Cambray, to reside with him. The 
Bishop was anxious to obtain a Cardinal's hat, and to avail him- 
self of Erasmus's great knowledge of Latin, to solicit the affair. 

In 1492, at the age of twenty-five, he was ordained by the 
Bishop of Utrecht. 

Disappointed in his expectations from the Bishop of Cambray, 
who " was very liberal of his promises, but not of his money," 4, 
in 1496, he removed to Montaigu College, Paris, and supported 
himself by private pupils, chiefly English, who repaired to Paris 
as the seat of learning ; among them was William Lord Morit- 
joy. 

He was solicited to accept the office of tutor to James Stan- 
ley, son of the Earl of Derby, afterwards Bishop of Ely, with 



1 Ex. gr. Fisher, Piscator, Bullock, Bovillus. 

7 Jortin. Life of ErashMWj vol. i. p, 4. 3 Ep. 3. 4 Ep, 501. c. 188*5. 



iv Some Account of Erasmus. 

the promise of a considerable pension and preferment, bui saki, 
« he would not be so hindered from prosecuting his studies for 
the wealth of the world." 

In 1497, he accompanied Lord Montjoy to England, and was 
at St. Mary's, Oxford ♦, l he established a friendship with Wil- 
liam Grocyn, Thomas Linacer, "William Latimer, John Colet, 
and Thomas More, afterwards Lord Chancellor. He was ac- 
quainted with Wolsey then bursar of Magdalen College. 

" As to his familiarity with Sir Thomas More, there are se- 
veral stories related,* and especially one concerning the disputes 
that had been between them about Transubstantiation, or the 
real presence of Christ in the consecrated Wafer, of which Sir 
Thomas was a strenuous maintainer, and Erasmus an opponent : 
of which, when Erasmus saw he was too strongly biassed to be 
convinced by arguments, he at last made use of the following 
facetious retortion on him. It seems in their disputes concern- 
ing the real presence of Christ in the Sacrament, which were 
in Latin, Sir Thomas had frequently used this expression, and 
laid the stress of his proof upon the force of believing, " crede 
quod edis et edis." i. e. believe you eat (Christ) and you do eat 
him ; therefore Erasmus answers him, " crede quod hdbes et 
habes," believe that you have (your horse) and you have him. 
It seems at Erasmus's going away, Sir Thomas had lent him his 
horse to carry him to the sea side or Dover ; but he either car- 
ried him with him over sea to Holland, or sent him not back to 
Sir Thomas, at least for some time •, upon which Sir Thomas 
writing to Erasmus about his horse, Erasmus is said to have 
written back to him as follows ; 



1 Wood, Ath. Oxon. vol. i. p. 12. 

2 Vide Warner, Memoirs of the Life of More, p. 40. Hoddcsdon. 
p. 37. Peck, Desid. Curios, vol. ii. lib. viii. p. 341. 



Some Account of Erasmus. v 

Ut mihi scripsisti de corporc Christi, 

Crede quod edis et edis. 
Sic tibi rescribo de tuo Palfrido ; 

Crede quod habes et babes. 1 

Grocyn was " Professor or public teacher of Greek at Oxford, 
about, the time when Erasmus was there •, soon after he removed 
to London, and then to the College of Maidstone, in Kent, 
where he was master. Erasmus owns great obligations to this 
man, who by his generosity to his friends, reduced himself to 
straits, and was forced to pawn his plate to Dr. Young, Master 
of the Rolls. The Dr. returned it to him again by his will, 
without taking principal or interest. Grocyn published nothing 
besides an Epistle prefixed to the Sphere of Proclus. Erasmus 
represents him as one of the best divines and scholars of the 
English nation. He died of the palsy, old and poor." 2, 

Linacer taught Greek at Oxford. (C He was Physician after- 
wards to the Royal Family, and Erasmus often consulted him 
on account of his frequent indispositions, which came early 
upon him ; and when he was sick at Paris, he complains that 
he had no 3 Linacer there, to assist him and prescribe for 
him." 

" He was in great favor with Henry VIII. who had a high 
opinion of his skill as a physician ; and he warmly recom- 
mended his friend Erasmus to the King. After this he went 
into orders, and had only the Chantorship of the Church of 
York. He died 4 of the stone, in great pain, in 1524." s 

" Erasmus 6 begged the assistance of Wm. Latimer in prepar- 
ing his New Testament for a second edition, knowing him to 



1 Bailey, Life of Erasmus, prefixed to Colloquies. 

2 Ep. 671. Knight, Life of Erasmus, p. 22. 

3 Ep. 10.5. 4 Ep. 431. c. 1311. 5 Knight, p. 24. 
6 Knight, p. 29. 



vi Some Account of Erasmus. 

be very accurate, and described him as a man of more than vir- 
gin modesty, under which was veiled the greatest worth. 1 He 
retired to the Rectory of Eastberry in Gloucestershire ; he had 
also the Rectory of Weston under Edge, and a Prebendship in 
the Church of Salisbury. Erasmus said he was, c vere Theolo- 
gus, integritate vitae conspicuus.' " 

Colet was afterwards the celebrated Dean of St. Paul's, and 
the particular friend of Erasmus. 

" In the beginning of the year 1499, Erasmus, who had been 
some months in the family of my Lord Mountjoy, and had been 
entered a little in the modes and fashions of the town, and in the 
sports and humours of the country j writes a pleasant letter to a 
Poet Laureat in France, to tell him what fine improvements he 
had by this time made in England. 2, c Your friend Erasmus, 
(says he) you would hardly know him. He is almost grown a 
good hunter, a better horseman, a very tolerable courtier, he 
can salute with more complaisance, and smile with a better 
grace, and has learned all these good manners in spite of nature.' 
He invites this his friend into England, to partake of these sin- 
gular advantages of the country, preferable to the dulness and 
rudeness of France. He tells him nothing but the gout could 
stop him, and yet, did he but know the excellencies of Britain, 
he would procure wings, if he had no feet, and fly over hither 
without any further delay ; especially if lie told him of the 
nymphs or fair ladies, here so beautiful, so free and easy, that if 
he saw them he would prefer them before his beloved muses : 
and that there was a custom peculiar to this island, never to be 
enough admired, that men and women salute one another, and 
kiss with the most innocent freedom, at visiting, parting, meet- 
ing again, and again taking leave ; and that if he did but come 

1 Ep. 363. 2 Era 1 -.. Ep. Fausto Aiulielino. 



Some Account of Erasmus. \\l 

over and taste these pleasures, he would here desire to spend 
the whole remainder of his life. We will jest out the rest (says 
he) when we meet ; I shall see you, I hope, in a very little 
time." 

The ceremony of kissing, to which Erasmus facetiously re- 
fers, was the custom of the early Christians, and a mark of cha- 
rity : " Greet ye one another with an holy kiss." 3 

" On the December following, he writes to an old English 
friend, Mr. Robert Fisher/ with whom he became first ac- 
quainted at Paris, but who was now travelling in Italy, and 
informs him what abundant satisfaction he had taken in being 
so long in England, a country that pleased him beyond all he 
bad yet seen, for he had found here a clear and wholesome air \ 
and so much humanity and learning, not vulgar and trivial, but 
profound, exact, and antique, both in the Latin and Greek 
tongues ♦, that he could not any longer desire to see Italy, but 
merely for the sight of it ; < as often as I hear Colet, says he, 
methinks I hear the divine Plato himself •, in Grocyn, who 
cannot but admire that universal compass of learning ? What 
more acute, more profound, more accurate, than the judgment 
of Linacer ? What did nature ever form so soft, so sweet, so 
happy, as the wit of Mr. Thomas More ? ' But he excuses 
himself from reckoning up the long catalogue of other learned 
men in England." a 

" Erasmus had proposed a much shorter stay in England, 
because just before his coming, he had fully resolved to see 
Italy and Rome, and his thoughts were much upon that jour- 
ney ; but his avocations in this kingdom were so agreeable to 



1 Lond. Non. Dec. Eras, Epist. Ed. Bas. p. 254. 

a Knight, p. 33. 

3 1 Cor. xvi. 20. Rom. xvi. 15. 1 Peter v. 14. 



viii Some Account of Erasmus. 

him, that he had spent here near two years before he returned 
by way of Dover to Bulloigne, loaded with civilities and with 
many generous presents. But he had the misfortune at Dover 
to be stript of all his money, (it seems twenty pounds) by a 
searcher or custom house officer, upon the beach or shore before 
he took ship : * though this was according to the laws of the 
land, 2 yet none of his friends giving him the least caution as to 
this point, and being a stranger, he thought it very inhospita- 
ble ; but it had no other effect upon him, but obliging him to 
turn mendicant to recruit himself again. He gets therefore Jac. 
Battus to write to the Lord Montjoy and other noble friends, 
to raise a new stock for him, and to give them an account of 
this misadventure, and how much like a philosopher he bore it 5 
accordingly, his friend writes to that same nobleman, and says, 
that Erasmus had told him, { he would never repent of his going 
to England, though he lost his all at coming out of it : for the 
loss, how great soever, had turned to his advantage : 3 he had 
gained such friends there, as he must value above all the riches 
of Croesus.' Good God ! how affectionately did he remember 
the humanity of Prior Charnock •, how elegantly did he set 
forth the learning of Colet, and the facetiousness of More •, so 
that were I myself (says Battus) at liberty, I should eagerly de- 
sire to go over, and visit such excellent persons. And you 



' Erasmus Gonello suo inter Epist. edit. Bas. fol. ulf. 

z g H. iv. c. 5. authorizes the seizure of any gold or silver, in coin or 
in mass, about to be carried out of the realm, saving reasonable expenses 
to the owner; the forfeiture for the benefit of the king. 

Poor Erasmus was not informed of this statute. Equity required the 
value of the money to be given him; yet he was told, " Ignorant ia juris, 
quod quisque lenetur scire, neminem excusat. v He might have replied, 
" Summumjus, summa injuria." 

3 Ex arce Tornehensi U00. Batti Epist. G. Monfjoio Baroni. Ed. Bas, 
p. 370. 1521. 



Some Account of Erasmus, ix 

yourself (most noble Montjoy) he so drew to the life in every 
part of your worthy character, that though I had before a great 
affection for you, I must now love you no less.than Erasmus 
himself does ; who loves you no less than his own eyes/ Then 
comes the begging part of the letter with great modesty and 
expression of the gratitude of Erasmus, for the great pains and 
expenses that Noble Lord had been at for his sake ; for which 
he himself gives his most hearty thanks, and implies, that what- 
ever he pleases further to bestow upon Erasmus, he shall take 
it more kindly than if given to himself." l 

" He took the first opportunity of showing his respect and 
gratitude to the English Court and nation, by publishing 
immediately at Paris, the first hasty collection of his .Adagies, 
to which he added the panegyric upon England, which he had 
lately presented to P. Henry, and dedicated the whole to his 
friend the Lord Montjoy." 

ei After this misfortune at Dover, he was again searched 
upon landing at Bulloigne, z and was pleased to think he had 
nothing then to lose ; and as soon as he got to Paris, he was 
taken with a fever that drained his whole body, as well as his 
purse ; but before he arrived here, he went first to Tournay, 
and got a little money of his friend James Battus, and from 
thence to Orleans." 3 

Upon his arrival at Paris he was so poor that he observed 
" As soon as I can get money I will first purchase greek 
authors and secondly clothes." [Ep. 58) Such was his ardent 
thirst for learning ! 

In 1499 he visited Holland, and was offended at their Epicu- 
rean repasts, he said, « c the people are sordid, unpolished, 

1 Knight, p. 51. 

a Erasmus de conscvibend. Epistolis. Tom. i. Op. Bas. 15 10. p. fttr. 

3 Knight, p. 55, 



x Some Account of Erasmus. 

despisers of learning, which meets with no encouragement and 
much envy." 1 

He wrote the £ Enchiridion Militis Christiani' in the castle 
of Tournehoult, about the end of the fifteenth century ; at the 
request of a devout lady, who had desired from him some 
Treatise that might reform her husband. * He revised and 
finished it at St. Omers An. 1501. It W2S printed at Louvain, 
1502, and at Basil in 1518 with a Preface.* 3 

It was originally dedicated to Adolphus, Son to Philip of 
Burgundy, by Anne Borsella of the noble family of the Borsels, 
which possessed great estates in Zealand, particularly in the 
town of Veer (vulgarly, Ter Veer) on which account Erasmus 
calls Adolphus Prince of Veer. 4 Erasmus says, he compos- 
ed it u not to make a display of wit or eloquence, but only 
to correct the error of those who supposed religion to consist in 
mere ceremonies and bodily observances which surpassed 
Jewish superstitions, and who strangely neglected the things 
which concerned true piety." Ep. 102. 

Le Clerc observes that Erasmus in his Preface 5 to Paulus 
Volzius (Abbot of a monastery called " Curia Hugonis" in 
Schletstatt, a town of Alsace, who in 1539 embraced the 
reformed doctrine) " has painted in excellent; colors the religion 
of those who wish to place Christianity in inexplicable disputa- 
tions, and who consider piety to consist in the observance of 
frigid rites." As it is a very voluminous epistle, and afludes to 
circumstances, which have ceased to interest, I shall only select 
the profitable parts. 



1 Jortin, i. p. 15. x Ep. ad Botz. 

3 Du Pin. Hist. Ecclcs. vol. iii. p 316. 

4 " Quamobrem Adolfum Veriensem Principem vocat Erasmus." Le 
Clerc, Vrcf. Tom. v. Eras. Op. 

5 Ep. cccxxix. Erasmi Op. omnia. Tom. iii. pt i. p. 33 r. 



Some Account oj Erasmus. xi- 

/ • 

« This little book called the Christian's Manual, and which I 

wrote to a friend, begins to displease me less, most worthy 

Father, since it has been well received by you and other good 

men of your profession, and nothing can be approved by you, 

but what is in some measure pious and learned : indeed it almost 

begins to please me, since if the printers do not flatter me, it is 

now printed in all sizes, and new editions are constantly in 

request. But, nevertheless, I am much hurt, because a learned 

friend wittily said, in jest indeed, but I fear as truly as wittily, 

< I have found more sanctity in the book than the author.' 

« After all, I do not regret my labors if they encourage so 
many to the study of true piety ; nor am I to be reviled if my 
example does not precisely correspond with my precepts ; for 
there is some goodness in sincerely wishing to become pious. 

" I am therefore undisturbed with the scoffs of certain people* 
who decry this little book as exhibiting not much erudition, and 
despise it from its elementary style ; displaying, it is true, none 
of the formalities of the schools : as if nothing could be instruc- 
tive unless drawn up according to rule. Let it be unlearned 
if they will, but let its piety be acknowledged. It professes not 
to qualify men for the Sorbonne, but to teach them to live 
peaceably like Christians, Its design is not theological disputa- 
tion, but a divine life. 

" Have we not numerous small treatises all mixed and remixed 
from each other, like apothecaries' prescriptions ; old ones out 
of new ones, and new out of old ; one out of many, and 
many out of one ; moulded and remoulded into every possible 
form and shape ? Who can so direct that this heap of 
volumes shall conduct us to our duty, when it requires a 
whole life to turn them over — Exactly as if a Physician 
were to order a sick man to read all the medical books, 
and that thereby he should find the means of re-establishing his 



xii Some Account of Erasmus. 

health ! But in the mean time death seizes him, and there is 
no one to help him — in a life so fugitive, the remedy must be 
prepared and at hand. 

" Whoever wishes to live well as regards the gate, 1 which 
Christ declares to be open to all, will find his guide, not in the 
intricate labyrinths of controversy, but in a true faith and un- 
feigned charity, accompanied with a hope that maketh not 
ashamed. (Rorn. v. 5.) 

" Finally, although great and learned Doctors are well versed 
in these volumes, yet their number is small compared with the 
unlearned multitude for whom Christ died, and who are unable 
to consult them. 

" We ought to strive to make the philosophy of Christ not 
only easy to, but intelligible by all : nor are we to regard it 
only as a subject of study for ourselves, as these learned persons 
seem to think, but as a matter by which we shall entice the 
multitude to a christian life. 

H We are preparing for a war against the Turks, and with 
whatever view it may have been undertaken, we should pray that 
it may be advantageous not to a few, but to all of us. If we con- 
quer them, by what means shall we convert them to Christianity ? 
for I do not suppose that we shall cut all their throats. 

" What will they imagine, when they shall perceive it so 
difficult to know how to speak of Christ ? just as if you were 
concerned with some sulky devil, whom you were invoking to 
your destruction if you used a wrong word ; and not with a 
most merciful Saviour, who exacts nothing from us beyond a 
pure and simple life. Tell me, I conjure you, what is to be 
done if they shall see our manners no better than our doctrine ? 
If from our tyrannical noise and contention they shall discover 

1 Matt. vii. 13. 



Borne Account of Erasmuf, xiii 

our ambition ; our avarice from our rapacity ; our lust from 
our adulteries ; our cruelty from our oppressions ; with what 
face shall we recommend them the doctrine of Christ so directly 
opposite to these things, and so widely removed from them ? 
The most efficacious mode of fighting with the Turks, would be 
to exhibit in our lives christian manners, to convince them 
that we do not covet their territories or gold, but only seek 
their welfare and the glory of Christ ! This is the true and 
efficacious theology, which formerly subjected to Christ the 
pride of philosophy and the sceptre of Princes. When we act 
thus we need never despair that Christ will assist us. But it will 
little avail us to call ourselves Christians if we slay thousands, 
and enslave tens of thousands ; if we exterminate the profane, 
or merely denounce anathemas against their faith ; instead of 
attempting to convert them from their impiety. In short, 
unless such are our intentions, it is more probable that we shall 
degenerate into infidels, than make the Turks Christians. 

" Under these considerations, if my opinion was asked, it 
would be, that we should previously endeavour to persuade them 
by books and epistles. But you will ask what kind of epistles ? 
certainly neither threatening or tyrannical ones'; but such as 
breathe a true paternal charity, and might spring from the 
bosoms even of Peter and Paul; epistles which should not 
only be distinguished by their apostolic title, but apostolic energy. 

" Whatever relates to faith should be expressed in a very few 
articles ; whatever relates to morals should also be concise. It 
is by such measures, not by the sword pointed to the breast, that 
wild savages may be civilized and made Christian brethren. The 
grand object is the Christian truth. But to whatever persons the 
Roman High Priest shall delegate this office of addressing the 
Turks, his direction must be, that they shall adhere to the Gospel, 
and not favor the worldly affections and desires of men. 



Ktv Some Account of Erasmus. 

" With such ideas was my mind impressed when I formed 
my Manual. I saw clearly that the christian world was not only 
corrupted by its passions, but also by its opinions. 

" On what can we so much rely as on the truly sacred anchor 
of the Gospel Doctrine ? 

" Let it be our endeavour, disregarding the blazing meteors 
of men's opinions, to cherish the sparks of christian doctrine. 

" Let us explore the streams flowing from the living and 
eternal fountain of his grace, until we arrive at the fountain of 
eternal life. Shall we diligently seek far and wide in our land, 
that we may eradicate all weeds, and shall we not plough deep 
in the rich soil of Christ, to draw forth delicious nourishment 
for our souls ? Never shall the winter of vice so extinguish the 
spark of charity, but that it may be rekindled from the percus- 
sion of this flint ! Christ is a rock. 

«* If that clear light shall be thrown upon us from the Gospel, 
if our mind shall be illuminated by the lamp of pure faith, then 
shall the minutest stains be discovered and removed. If the 
rule of christian charity is once adhered to, then all things are 
easily accommodated to it. But what can you do if one rule is 
in opposition to others, that have been in general use for ages, 
2nd which are sanctioned by princely laws ? for this is not un- 
common. You are not to be damned merely that obedience 
shall be paid to princes. Moreover I am unwilling that the 
heavenly philosophy of Christ shall be contaminated by human 
decrees. Let Christ remain what he truly is, the centre round 
which we all turn \ I wish that the true mark shall not be 
moved from its place. 

"Let wars be carried on not for conquest, but for liberty. 
Let not princes under pretence of justice act cruelly to those 
whom clemency might amend •, and let them not plunder that 
people they are bound to defend. 



Some Account of Erasmus. xv 

" There is but one goal, and that is Christ and his uncorrupt- 
ed doctrine; but if we set up an earthly goal instead of a 
heavenly one, all our exertion is in vain. 

" Who is there so happy as to be free from his particular 
disorders ? As that man benefits, and does not injure the 
health of the body, who points out what is inimical or friendly 
to pure health, so, he does not turn mankind from religion but 
rather leads them to it, who points out the corruptions of faith 
and practice, and discovers remedies. 

" Augustine told the clergy that if they wished to be respect- 
ed by the people, they should produce that respect by their 
manners, not by their garments. 

" I certainly wish, and doubt not that many pious men have 
the same ardent desire, that the evangelical religion should be 
in the hearts of all men, and that content therewith, they should 
no more trouble themselves about St. Benedict, or St. Francis. 

iC No man should either foolishly please himself with a 
manner of life because it is different from that of others, or 
despise or unjustly condemn any regulation. In every state of 
life each person should strive for the goal of Christ ; they should 
unite and assist each other ; neither being envious of those who 
run the same race, nor despising those who are unable to keep 
up with them. Finally after each has done his utmost, let him 
be careful not to resemble the Pharisee in the Gospel, who 
states his own good deeds to God, saying, 1 fast twice in the 
week, I give tithes of all that I possess ; (Luke xviii. 12) but let 
him agreeable to the words of Christ say from his heart* / am 
an unprofitable servant: I have done that 'which *mas my duly 
to do. (Luke xvii. 10.) No man is farther from a holy life 
than he who thinks himself religious. 

" We should always have in readiness that apostolic answer, 
We ought to obey God rather than men. (Acts v. 2D.) 



xyi Some Account of Erasmus, 

" This book is republished at the Frobenian press, and is pre- 
sented to you in a more correct and elegant shape than the former 
edition. But it may perhaps appear the best part of this edition, 
that he who shall deduce rules for a good life from Erasmus, 
shall at the same time have an example in Volzius. Farewell, 
most virtuous Father and singular ornament of true religion. 

" The best prayers and most pious wishes of Erasmus, attend 
your health and welfare ; commending you to the holy keeping 
of God in Christ. 

Basil, 14th August, 1518." 
Does not each line speak the most fervent charity ? How 
beautiful is pure Christianity ! Erasmus in his Adagies also 
observes, « if you would convert them you must give them 
Christianity in its simplicity." c. 968. Every missionary should 
weigh this divine truth : and if our actions were regulated by 
the Gospel, the rudest savage would reverence ^nd embrace 
Christianity. It alike promotes our temporal and eternal felicity. 
The monks condemned the Enchiridion as having too little 
godliness, with them another name for superstition, and too 
much morality. Indeed the writings of Erasmus were so hostile 
to superstition, that the bigoted and cruel Mary included them 
in her proclamation against heretical books. s - 

William Tyndale, otherwise Hitchins, translated the Enchir- 
idion into English. He was born on the borders of Wales, and 
educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he gave private 
lectures in divinity, establishing the doctrines of Luther. This 
conduct obliged him to remove to Cambridge. He afterwards 
resided with Sir John Welch, of Gloucestershire, as Tutor to 
his children 5 and for the instruction of the family, and to 
enable them to confute the sophistry of the priests, he translated 

1 Collier, Eccles. Hist. Vol. ii. 1. v. pt, ii. p. 382. 



Some Account of Erasmus. xvii 

the Enchiridion. He withdrew to Germany, and after con- 
ferring with Luther, he settled at Antwerp, where, in 1526, 
he published his New Testament from the Greek into English, 
8vo. In 1534? Tyndale published a second and corrected 
edition of the New Testament. This work increased the hatred of 
the English Catholics against him ; and they procured one Henry 
Philips to proceed to Antwerp, and betray him into the power 
of the Emperor. By virtue of the decree at Augsburgh, he was 
strangled and burnt at the castle of Filford in Flanders in 
1536. His last words were, « Lord, open the eyes of the King 
of England." « Such was the tragical end of one of the most 
learned men of his time : a man of the most unblemished 
character ; whose only crime was translating into English, for 
the benefit of his countrymen, the Holy Scriptures, which all 
Christians do, and ought to look upon as the only rule of their 
faith and practice : and which consequently they cannot be too 
well acquainted with : time it was therefore that such a tyranny 
as he fell a sacrifice to, should be abolished, as it was very 
soon. The measure of their iniquities was then filled." l 

The Enchiridion was reprinted in English in 1533, 1545, 
1555, 1576, and 1752. 

« It cannot be denied, but that this book is full of excellent 
maxims and very useful instructions ; yet the Archdeacon of 
Placentia decried it as heretical. Ludovicus Coronellus, Doctor 
of Divinity, undertook the defence of it. Charles V. read it in 
Spain, the copies of it sold very well, and it was soon translated 
into the Italian, French, Spanish and German languages. There 
have been some who did not find all that unction in it, which 
is to be desired in a book of devotion. MafFeius tells us in the 



1 Vide Fox, Book of Martyrs. Vol. ii. p. 301. Clark. Eccles. Histor. p. 
184. Biograph. Britan. Vol. vi. p. 3954. Holland Herwolog, p. 148. 

Ch. Ma. 6 



xviii Some Account of Erasmus. 

life of St. Ignatius Loyola " that that saint found his devotion 
cooled when he read this book ; and one of the greatest 
ascetics of our age, Monsieur de St. Cyran, was of the same 
opinion. It must be confessed, there are some things in this 
book, which do not very well agree with books of devotion, 
which are composed for the more illiterate sort of people ; yet it 
cannot be denied, but there are also some things in it which are 
very proper for instructing them in their duties, and for preser- 
ving in them a spirit of piety.''* 2, 

Jortin says, « the judgment of Ignatius is altogether worthy 
of him, and every fanatic in the world, ii he were to peruse this 
treatise of Erasmus, would be of the very same opinion ; and 
would want something more pathetic and savoury, something 
with more unction, and less morality and common sense." 3 

*' Ignatius de Loyola was born at the castle of Loyola in Biscay of a 
noble family. In 1534 he formed a company of ten men at Paris, who 
vowed to renounce the advantages of this world, labor for the glory of God 
and salvation of souls, and to preach the gospel to infidels. They were in- 
corporated by the Pope, 27 September 1540, by the name of the " Society 
of Jesus," and engaged to go into whatever countries he should direct, 
and were empowered to have spiritual and temporal coadjutors. They 
dispersed into several countries. They elected their general or head of 
the society, who governed despotically. In 1679, they amounted to 
seventeen thousand six hundred and fifty five, of whom seven thousand 
eight hundred and seventy were priests.* They were remarkable for a 
blind zeal and attachment to the see of R,ome, and a spirit of intrigue alike 
subversive of religious and political liberty. Their machinations were 
so injurious, that they were expelled Portugal in 1758, France 1763, 
Spain 1767, and Naples 1768, and Clement XIV. suppressed the order in 
1773. The Pope to support his tottering power has lately revived the 
order, and already has Portugal protested against it : instead of being 
disciples of our blessed Saviour they are worldly emissaries, truce breakers, 
fake accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitor*, 
heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. 2 Tim. iii.3, 4. 

* Du Pin, Hist. Eccles. vol. hi. p. 316. 

j Life of Erasmus, vol. i. p. I'l. 

* Du Pin Eccles. Ilistor. vol. iii. p. 676. 



Some Account of Erasmus. xix 

Le Clerc observes, "I wish all soldiers would have the 
Enchiridion in their hands. Certainly we should not see so 
many men in the Christian armies, who, although they may be 
called soldiers, I know not whether they can be enrolled in the 
list of Christians." l 

# There is more piety and good sense in the Christian 
Soldier's Manual, than had appeared for many centuries in any 
treatise of devotion. And it was this very thing that offended 
the monks, who knew of no other piety than that which con- 
sisted in the observation of some trifling external practices, or at 
the most in a kind of extatic fanaticism, which differs very little 
from frenzy, and does no good, or rather does much injury to 
civil society." a 

Knight remarks, "The Enchiridion Militis Christiani, is of 
all his books more especially levelled against xKisform of godli- 
ness, (a) when without the power and practice of it. Therefore 
the Dominican Friars being stung by his plain dealing, 
especially in the preface to that book, made such a noise and 
clamor against it, that Erasmus never regained their favor % 
taking what he wrote so much the more heinously since he 
was one of them, and consequently had disgraced his own order. 3 . 
"We are told by a creditable author, Montfaucon, (Diar. Ital ) 
that in the library of Dominicans of St. John and St. Paul of 
Venice, there are two rows of wooden statues, one of the 
catholic, the other of heretical doctors ; among the latter stands 
Erasmus loaded with chains, with labels full of reproaches 
against him, as also against Luther and Calvin ; but those who 
were more moderate were content to picture him as hanging 
between heaven and hell." + 



1 Pref. Tom. v. Er'asm. 2 Bibl. choisie, Tome viii. p. 231. 

3 Erasmus was not a Dominican, but an Augustinian. Bayle Erasme 
n. A. 4 Introd. Life of Erasmus, p. xxi. (a) 2 Tim. hi. 5. 



xx Some Account of Erasmus. 

« It is an excellent manual of piety and good morals." * 

In 1,525, Erasmus sent his compliments to John, the gunsmith, 
at Cambridge, observing, " he gave me a sword, and I gave him 
a book, the Enchiridion or spiritual sword ; I have not as yet 
made any use of his present, or he, I fancy, of mine." 2. No : 
peaceful Erasmus ! thy sword unstained with human gore, was 
spotted with rust. How long shall we tear out each others* 
bowels, and invent more deadly engines of war 5 instead of beat" 
ing our swords into ploughshares, and our spears into pruning 
hooks P Isai. ii. 4. 

In 1503, Erasmus studied divinity at Louvain. 1506, he 
returned to England ; and in 1508, he took his Doctor's degree, 
at Turin. From thence he visited Bologna, Venice, Padua, and 
Rome, where he received great honors. 

At Padua he was tutor to Alexander, Archbishop- of St. An- 
drew's, son of James IV. of Scotland, by Mary Boyd, daughter 
to Archibald Boyd, of Bonsham. Alexander was killed by his 
father's side, at the battle of Flodden Field, aged 20, An. 1513. 
Erasmus regarded him as a youth of singular merit. 3 

In 1509, Henry VIII. invited Erasmus to England ; he was 
appointed Greek Professor at Cambridge ; and in 1511, the 
Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity. 

« He earnestly presses Colet to give him fifteen angels, which 
he had promised long before, on condition that Erasmus would 
dedicate to him his book, « De Copia Verborum,' which was 
not published till the following year. See Ep. 115, which is 
elegantly written, and which shows that this worthy man must 
have been in great straits, since he was forced to beg so impor- 



1 lb. p. 59. x Ep. 791. 

3 Eras. Adagia. Op. 2. Tom. ii. Ep. 125T. 



Some Account of Erasmus. xxi 

tunately for a few pieces of gold. It is not altogether to Colet's 
honor." 

« In another letter to Colet, we find that the academics at 
Cambridge, where Erasmus resided, were as poor as himself. 
Ep. 117." Jortin, vol. i. p. 38. 

In 1510, Erasmus visited Canterbury Church, and in his Col- 
loquy, « The Religious Treat," he thus alludes to it : « When 
I was in England I saw St. Thomas's Tomb, (i.e. the tomb of 
Thomas a Becket) at Canterbury, so prodigiously rich in plate 
and jewels, that the value was almost inestimable. Now had it 
not been better if these superfluities had been rather applied to 
charitable uses for the relief of the poor, than reserved for those 
ambitious princes who shall have the fortune one day to seize 
them ? The holy man, I am confident, would have been very 
well content with leaves and flowers." 

1537, Henry VIII. unsainted St. Thomas, by seizing his 
shrine, the gold whereof filled two chests, and each required 
eight men to carry it out of the church. 1 , 

" Erasmus complains that the plague was in England, and 
that the roads were infested with highwaymen j and says of 
Cambridge, that it was almost deserted, and that he could not 
maintain himself there, 2 but must seek some other place to live 
in, or to die in." 3 

Holinshed, discoursing " Of the sundrie kinds of Punishments 
appointed for Malefactors," says, " Our third annoiers of the 
commonwealth are roges, which doo verie great mischeefe in 
all places where they become. For whereas the rich onelie 
suffer injurie by the first two, (traitors and pirates) these spare 
neither rich nor poore : but whether it be great gaine or small, 

1 Burnet, Hist. Reform, vol. i. b. iii. p. 244. 

2 Ep- 131. 3 J rtin ; vol. i. p. 40. 



xxii Some Account of Erasmus. 

all is fish that commeth to net with them ; and yet I saie, both 
they and the rest are trussed up apace. For there is not one 
yeare commonlie, wherein three hundred or foure hundred of 
them are not devoured and eaten up by the gallowes in one 
place and other. It appeareth by Cardane (who writeth it upon 
the report of the Bishop of Leronia) in the geniture of King 
Edward the Sixt, how Henrie the Eight, executing his laws 
verie severelie against such idle persons, I meane great theeves, 
pettie theeves and roges, did hang up three score and twelve 
thousand of them in his time. Hee seemed for a while greatlie 
to have terrified the rest : but since his death the number 
of them is so increased, yea although we have had no warres, 
which are a great occasion of their breed, (for- it is the cus- 
tome of the more idle sort, having once served, or but seene 
the other side of the sea under colour of service, to shake 
hand with labour, for ever ; thinking it a disgrace for himselfe 
to returne unto his former trade) that except some better order 
be taken, or the lawes alreadie made be better executed, such 
as dwell in uplandish townes, and little villages, shall live but in 
small safetie and rest. 1 

What a melancholy record ! Does it not brand the memory 
of the licentious Henry with ignominy ? The prevention of 
crimes is the duty of a government. Every offence is more or 
less a reproach upon the administration. Protection is one of 
the chief ends of civil society ; and the king who is indifferent to 
the personal security of the subject, neglects one of the highest 
obligations of his office. 

In 1511, Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, presented him 
the small Rectory of Aldington, in Kent •, which he was per- 

1 Chronicle:-, vol. i. Description of England, e. li. p. J 86. 



Some Account of Erasmus. xxiii 

mitted to resign, and, according to a custom then prevailing, to 
charge with a pension, to which Warham added £20. 1 

In an Epistle 2 he tells us, that even the King, who had wrote 
to him in Italy, now talked of him very honorably and affection- 
ately ; and as often as lie waited on his Majesty, he was received 
with such an affable and gracious air, that it was plain the 
King's thoughts of him were as favorable as his words ; that 
the Queen offered to retail} him as her preceptor in the Latin 
tongue ; that every body knew if he would but stay a few 
months at Court, he might have what ecclesiastical preferments 
he pleased, but that he preferred his liberty and his studies 
before all other temptations. " Besides, says he, the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, Primate of all England, and Chancellor of the 
Kingdom, treats me as if he were my own father or my brother j 
and as an earnest of his affection, he has given me a living of 
one hundred nobles per annum, which, for my conveniency, he 
has suffered me to resign, and to reserve out of the profits, a 
yearly pension of an hundred crowns ; for the few years last 
past, though I never asked for any thing, he has given me in 
abundance, above four hundred nobles, even one hundred and 
fifty in a day. From the bounty of other Bishops, I have had 
above an hundred nobles ; the Lord Mountjoy, formerly my 
pupil, gives me an annual pension of one hundred crowns ; the 
King and his prime favorite and minister, the Bishop of Lincoln, 
promise me what I please ; both the universities, Oxford and 
Cambridge, are contending for me : for at Cambridge I taught 
the Greek tongue, and theological sciences for several months, 
though gratis, as I always resolved : the colleges in the two 
universities, have in the constitution of them so much of piety 

1 Ep. 151. z Epist. P. Servatio Edit. Guil. Batesii, 4to. p. 19.3. 



xxiv Some Account of Erasmus. 

and regularity of manners, that were you to see them, you 
would despise what they call a religious or monastic life." 

« In a letter to King Henry the Eighth, 1 some time after 
this, he expresses a great deal of pleasure in saying, < that 
though he was not a native of England, 2 yet he was adopted 
into it, and had as hearty love and esteem for it, as if he first 
drew his breath here : and, in an epistle to a friend, then going 
into England, he infinitely prefers our country before his own ; 
thinks the one hardly worth seeing ; while in the other he 
would meet with every thing that was grateful and delightful ; 
but adds this piece of advice, that he should always behave him- 
self modestly, and not to be too free in his disliking or speaking 
against any thing he was not pleased with ; this being a thing 
that would not be borne with : (the English people being, not 
without reason, great lovers of their country) and therefore it 
would become him not to provoke them by any reflections upon 
things or persons ; it being a great fault in some travellers, who 
are prejudiced against every thing that is different from the 
usage of their own country : musick itself, though never so fine 
and exquisite, may yet not be pleasing to the ear that is not 
used to it. He commends in the same epistle the generosity of 
the English, how much they exceed their neighbours in this 
point, and then lays down excellent rules how to comport him- 
self, as to the receiving or refusing of gifts." 3 

Every Englishman must love his country for the civil and 
religious liberty he enjoys, and for her munificent institutions ; 
but he has no right to insult the feelings of foreigners by invi- 
dious comparisons. Some fancy they aggrandise the glory of 



1 Edit. Lond. p. 357. 

2 Eras. Epist. Nic. Cannio. Ed. Leid. p. 983. 3 Knight, p. 161. 



Some Account of Erasmus. xxv 

their country by an unsocial and inhuman behaviour, that would 
disgrace savages. 

" That independence Britons prize too high, 

Keeps man from man, and breaks the social tie." Goldsmith. 

Erasmus considered the art of medicine as the most certain 
protection from poverty, and next to that, the profession of the 
law ; x and in the colloquy, " The Child's Piety," he observes, 
" Medicine is a sure fortune in whatsoever land a man is y the 
law is the way to preferment. But I like divinity the best, 
except that the manners of some of the professors of it, and 
their bitter contentions, displease me." He advised physicians 
to study Greek. Ep. 295. 

1513. "He tells Colet, Ep. 149, 150, that he had begun to 
translate 2 St. Basil on Isaiah (or an author who went under his 
name) and would send a specimen of it to Fisher, Bishop of Ro- 
chester, to submit it to his judgment, and also to try whether 
that would draw some present from him ; on which he cries 
out, O beggary ! I know you laugh at me : but I hate myself, 
and am resolved either to mend my fortunes and get out of the 
number of mendicants, or to imitate Diogenes. 

" Colet had told him, 3 that he would give him a small mat- 
ter if he would beg with humility, and ask without modesty \ 
had advised him to imitate Diogenes ; and had hinted to him, 
that he was too querulous and greedy. It seems they bantered 
him because he was frequently importuning his friends. Eras- 
mus in his answer tells him, that, in the opinion of Seneca, 
favors were dearly purchased, which were extorted by begging. 4 
Socrates talking once with some friends, said, I would have 
bought me a coat to-day, if I had had money. They, says Se- 
neca, who gave him what he wanted, after he made this speech, 



1 T. v. c. 661. z Knight, p. 124. » Ep. 4, c. 1523. 

4 Seneca de Benef. vii. 24. 



xxvi Some Account of Erasmus, 

showed their liberality too late. Another ' seeing a friend, who 
was poor and sick, and too modest to make his wants known, 
put some money under his pillow, whilst he was asleep. 

"When I used to read this in the days of my youth, says 
Erasmus, I was extremely struck with the modesty of the one, 
and the generosity of the other. But since you talk of begging 
without shame, who, I beseech you, can be more submissive 
and more shameless than myself, who live in England upon the 
foot of a public beggar ? I have received so much from the 
Archbishop, that it would be scandalous to take any more of 
him, though he were to offer it. I asked N. with sufficient 
effrontery, and he refused me with still greater impudence. 
Even our good friend Linacer thinks me too bold, who knowing 
my poor state of health, and that I was going from London 
with hardly six angels in my pocket, and that the winter was 
coming on, yet exhorted me most pressingly to spare the Arch- 
bishop and Lord Montjoy, and advised me to retrench, and 
learn to bear poverty with patience. A most friendly counsel ! 
for this reason above all, I hate my hard fortune, because she 
will not suffer me to be modest. Whilst I had health and 
strength, I used to dissemble my poverty : now I cannot, unless 
I would risk my life. But I am not such a beggar neither, as 
to ask all things from all persons. To some I say nothing, 
because I would not be refused ; and I have no pretence to 
solicit you, who do not superabound in wealth. But since you 
seem to approve of impudence, I will end my letter in the most 
impudent manner I can. I have not assurance enough to ask you 
for any thing ; and yet I am not so proud as to reject a present, 
if a friend like you should offer it to one in my circumstances. 
Ep. 150r 

1 Arcesilas. In Diog. Laert. iv. 37. Seneca De Benef. ii. 1. 
z Jortin. vol. i. p. 50, 



Some Account of Erasmus. xxvii 

1514. Disappointed in his views of patronage, he left England. 

« At departing from London he saluted the King and the 
Bishop of Lincoln, who made him no present ; though the 
Bishop treated him with magnificent promises. The Bishop of 
Durham gave him six angels, the Archbishop of Canterbury the 
same, and the Bishop of Rochester presented him with a piece 
of gold, which he calls regalem." l 

He described Wolsey as " feared by all, but beloved by few 
or none." * 

6 * In the beginning of this year Erasmus was in Flanders. He 
speaks of his passage from England, which was favorable ; but 
the sailors or custom-house officers, the maritimi prcedones, as 
he calls them, who were to carry his baggage, put it into a 
wrong ship. Amongst his clothes were all his writings, the 
work of many years, which he gave up for lost, and mourns as 
a father would weep over his dead children. He inveighs bit- 
terly against the Dover sailors, true harpies, no less than those 
of Calais ; but probably he recovered his effects, since he says 
nothing more about them." 3 

A pension attached him as Counsellor of State to Charles 
Archduke of Austria, afterwards Charles V. in Brabant. His 
pacific councils were little regarded, and the pension so irregu- 
larly paid, that he humorously observed, « if it were not speed- 
ily paid, the money would come too late, unless it could be of 
any service in the Elysian Fields." Ep. 742. 

In answer to an entreaty of Servatius, Prior of the Convent of 
Regular Canons, at Stein, to reside with them, he says, " I see 
not what I could do in Holland. Neither the air or the diet 
would agree with me ; and I should be a show for every one to 



Jortin, vol. i. p. 58. 2 Epist. Vergarae. 

Ep. 159. Jortin. vol. i. p. 58. 



xxviii Some Account of Erasmus* 

stare at. I left the place when I was a youth : I should return 
an aged and grey-headed valetudinarian. I should expose my- 
self to the contempt of the most contemptible ; I who have been 
accustomed to receive honors from the most eminent. I should 
be obliged to change my studies into repasts. You promise to 
seek out a place for me, where I may live and find advantage 
and profit : but I cannot guess what you design, unless it be to 
place me in a nunnery, that I may be a slave to women ; I who 
have refused to serve kings and archbishops. Profit is what I 
value not : I would not be rich : I desire only what may enable 
me to preserve my health, and pursue my studies, without being 
a burthen to any one." 

" I have lived amongst sober people, and attached to my 
studies, which have happily preserved me from many vices. I 
have conversed with persons, who had a love and taste for 
true Christianity ; and from their conversation I have reaped 
much benefit. I will not boast of my v/ritings, which perhaps 
you despise ; but many persons have owned to me, that by 
reading them they have been made not only more learned, but 
more virtuous ; I never loved money, and never was subject to 
ambitious desires of glory, and reputation ; I never was a slave 
to sensual pleasures, though formerly I have been defiled with, 
them ; and as to drunkenness, I ever abhorred it. 

" Every time that I have thought of returning to you, I have 
considered that many of you would envy me, and all of you 
would despise me. I have considered the insipid and frivolous 
conversations held amongst you, in which there is nothing that 
savours of Christianity ; your repasts altogether secular, and 
your whole way of life distinguished only by those things, which 
are commonly called ceremonies. I have considered the infirmi- 
ties of my body, enfeebled by years, by sickness and by labors, 
which are such, that either I could not give you content, or 



Some Account oj Erasmus. xxix 

must destroy myself by attempting to do it. For some years I 
have been subject to the stone and gravel, a troublesome and a 
dangerous disease •, and am obliged to drink only wine, and 
wine of a particular sort. It is not every diet or climate that 
suits me. This disorder which frequently returns, obliges me 
to live by rule. I know the air of Holland and your diet, to 
say nothing of your manners. "Why should I return only to 
die with you ? But perhaps you imagine it is a singular happi- 
ness to die in a Fraternity. Alas ! you are mistaken and almost 
all the world is mistaken along with you. 

" We make Christianity consist in dress, in eating and in little 
observances ; we look on a man as lost, who quits his white 
garment for a black one ; wears a hat instead of a hood, and 
often changes his habitation. Shall I venture to affirm that the 
greatest mischief, which has been done to the Christian religion, 
arises from these religions (or religious orders) as they are called, 
though perhaps a pious zeal first introduced them ? they have 
since been augmented by slow degrees, and multiplied into, 
various kinds. The authority of Popes, too easy and indulgent 
in such things, has supported them. For what is more corrupt 
and wicked than these relaxed religions ? consider even those 
which are in the best esteem, and you shall find in them nothing 
that resembles Christianity, but only I know not what cold and 
Judaical observances ; upon these the religious orders value 
themselves ; and by these they judge and despise others ; would 
it not be better according to the doctrine of our Saviour, to 
look on Christendom as one house, one family, one Monastery, 
and all Christians as one brotherhood? Would it not be 
better to account the Sacrament of Baptism^ the most sacred 
of all vows and engagements and never trouble ourselves where 
we live, so we live well. 1 

1 Jortin, vol. i. p. 59. 



xxx Some Account of Erasmus. 

1515. He complained of the laziness of the English, who 
would not transcribe his writings for any price ; (Ep. 172) and 
attributed the plague and sweating sickness, to the bad construc- 
tion and filth of the houses. " The floors are commonly of 
clay strewed with rushes, under which lie unmolested, an 
ancient collection of beer, grease, fragments, bones, spittle and 
every thing offensive." l 

The cause of the sweating sickness was not in the hovels of 
the English, although their impurities necessarily aggravated the 
disorder. The first appearance was in 1485, in the army with 
which Henry VII came from France and landed in Wales. It 
was called Sudor Anglicus, and Febris Ephemera Britannica, 
because it was considered to have originated here ♦, whereas it was 
evidently introduced from the continent, and was, as the learn- 
ed Meade remarks, " no other than a plague abated in its 
violence by the mild temperament of our climate. " It returned 
several times, the last in 1551 •, in Westminster it then carried 
off 120 a-day. The symptoms were like those of the plague, 
only more mild. The patient was attacked with great anxiety 
about the praecordia, thirst and nausea : some voided blood at 
the nose, ears and eyes ; the sweat, which was particularly 
offensive, was the crisis, and the indication of cure was to 
prevent coma and continue the sweat by gentle cordials ; for if 
it ceased, the disease proved mortal : 24 hours decided the fate 
of the patient ; it generally yielded to an early treatment. a 

" In a letter to Franciscus Wolsey's physician, Erasmus gives 
him a melancholy account of his bad state of health, and of his 
sufferings by the stone in the kidneys. He tells him amongst 
other things, that it had been his custom for twenty years, to 



1 Ep. 432. c 1815. 

z Vide Lord Bacon's Relation of the sweating sickness examined by 
Stubbe. Meade, Discourse concerning Pestilential Contagion. Freind, 
Hist, of Physic, part ii. p. 333. 



Some Account of Erasmus. xxxi 

read and write standing or leaning, and to sit very little, except 
at meals, or when he sometimes took a small nap after dinner. 
But these precautions did not secure him from the many dis- 
tempers of which he complains. , 

He obtained a dispensation from his vow of a regular Canon. 

1516. He said that " having expended his money in clothes 
for the winter, he was obliged to sell his horses, lest they should 
eat him up." Ep. 81. c. 1571. 

By permission he dedicated to Pope Leo his edition of a 
Greek and Latin Testament. Ep. 181. In his preface to the 
Latin Testament he piously remarks, « Let us earnestly study 
the Gospel, not only study, but also live conformable thereto. 
It is called the Gospel of Peace by the Prophet, let it not by 
our fault, become the Gospel of Discord ! ! ! " 

1517. He declared that his chief support was from his 
English revenues, which preserved him from mendicity. Ep. 
185. c. 1632. 

In 1518 he finally left England. 

1521. He writes to his kind patron Warham, " At present I 
think myself a sort of nobleman ; for I maintain two horses, 
who are better fed, and two servants, who are better clad than 
their master." Ep. 574, 590. 

" The English," says Erasmus, « are commonly thought to be 
heretical : but they are not so in point of friendship, and I have 
the greatest reason to love them." % 

1524. " The Archbishop Warham sent him a horse, whom 
Erasmus thus describes to him ; « I have received your horse, 
who is not over handsome, but a good creature •, for he is free 
from all the mortal sins, except gluttony and laziness. Else he 
is endued with the qualities of a holy father confessor, being 

« Ep. 431. c. 1813. Jortin vol. i. p. 75. 2 Ep. 585. Jortin, i. p. 283. 



xxxii Some Account of Erasmus. 

prudent, modest, humble, chaste and peaceable, and one who 
neither bites nor kicks. I fancy that, by the knavery, or the 
mistake of your domestics, I have not the horse that you intend- 
ed for me. I had ordered my servant not to ask for a horse, nor 
to accept of one, unless some person offered him a very good 
one, of his own accord. And yet I am equally obliged to you 
for your kind intention. Indeed I thought to sell my horses, 
as I have given over riding." 

" We see that neither his studies, nor his distempers, nor his 
vexations had deprived him of his gay temper which breaks out 
in his letters." l 

Tyndale's New Testament was read with the greatest avidity ; 
and therefore suppressed by a mandate z of Archbishop War- 
ham's, 3d Nov. 1526. 

Anciently there were translations of the Gospel in the native 
language of every country. 3 

«In an extraordinary consistory held at Rome, A. D. 679 4 
about British affairs, it was among other things ordained ; that 
lessons out of the divine oracles should be always read for the 
edification of the churches, that the minds of the hearers might 
be fed with the divine word, even at the very time of their 
bodily repast." 

There is a MS. Saxon copy in the Bodleian Library : Bede, 
and King Alfred also translated it, and Richard Rolle a Hermit, 
of Yorkshire, who died in 1349, translated some psalms. 

" The first synodical prohibition or restraint of this liberty or 
birthright of Christians, in the use of the Holy Scripture in 



1 Jortin, vol. i. p. 339. 

z Wilkins, Cone. Mag. Brit. vol. iii. p. 706. et vide ib. p. 740. 

3 Euseb. Dem. Evang. lib. 3. c. ult. F. Simon disq. critica (le variis 
Bibl. edit. Usserii Hist, dogmat. de Script, et Sacris Vernaculis, 

4 Spelman's Councils, vol. i. 



Some Account of Erasmus, xxxiu 

their own language, we find was in a synod held at Tholouse, 
A. D. 1228, on occasion of the doctrine and preaching of the 
Waldenses j < that the Holy Scripture is the rule of Christian 
faith, and that the reading and knowledge of it is free and 
necessary to all men, to the people, as well as to the clergy.' 
In opposition to this principle, the synod then decreed in the 
following terms, x « we forbid that laymen be permitted to have 
the books of the old and new Testament j unless, perhaps some 
one out of devotion desires to have the psalter or breviary for 
divine offices, and the hours of the blessed virgin ; but even 
those they may not have translated in the vulgar tongue.' 2 

The priests were sensible that ignorance and its attendant 
superstition, were the only supports of their power, and the 
light of the Gospel would clearly display their errors and infa- 
mous frauds. 

About 1382 Wickliffe translated the Bible, 3 and the copy sold 
for 21. 16s. 8d. There are MSS. in the [Bodleian Library, and 
Sidney and Magdalen Coll. Camb. 

In the convocation of 1536, it was resolved to publish a new 
Translation of the Scriptures. In 1538 Henry VIII., "jealous 
lest his own subjects should become such theologians as to ques- 
tion his tenets, used great precautions in publishing that 
translation of the Scripture, which was finished this year. 
He would only allow a copy of it to be deposited in each 
parish church, where it was fixed by a chain : and he took care 
to inform the people by proclamation, « that this indulgence 
was not the effect of his duty, but of his goodness and libe- 
rality to them ; who therefore should use it moderately for 



1 D'Acherii Con. Tom. ii. p. 624. 

2 Lewis, Hist, of Translations of the Bible, c. i. 

3 lb. p. 30. Burnet, Hist. Reform, vol. i. b. i. p. 23. 

CL Ma. 



xxxiv Some Account of Erasmus. 

the increase of virtue, not of strife : ' and he ordered that no 
man should read the Bible aloud, so as to disturb the priest 
while he sang mass ; nor presume to expound doubtful places, 
without advice from the learned. In this measure as in the 
rest, he still halted half way between the Catholics and the 
Protestants." x 

6th May 1542, By proclamation, reciting an order that there 
should be a Bible in all parish churches at the cost of the curate 
and parishioners, and the neglect thereof ; the observance is 
enforced by a penalty of 40s. for every month that they shall 
want the said Bibles; and the sellers of the largest Bible un- 
bound, are not to demand more than ten shillings for the same ; 
and for one well bound and clasped 12s. * 

« For the understanding the New Testament, Erasmus's 
Paraphrase, which was translated into English, was thought the 
most profitable and easiest book *, therefore it was resolved, 
that together with the Bible, there should be one of these in 
every 'parish church over England. 3 

" King Henry also thought it not below him to write a 
very kind epistle to Erasmus, in order to persuade his return 
into his kingdom. 'Telling him that it gave him no small 
concern to hear from Archbishop Warham, that he met with 
so much ill usage from men of perverse spirits, who were not 
only enemies to him, but to even the Christian religion itself ; 
and thought it a monstrous thing, that a person he had in 
the utmost admiration for his great learning and abilities-, 
should be even in danger of his life, and no where safe from 
their malice ; the account of which was very grievous to him — 



1 Hume, H. 8. c v. 

1 Burnet; Hist, fteform. vol. i. b. iii. Coll. xxiv. p. 251. 
3 lb. vol. 2. b. i, p. ST. 



Some Account of Erasmus. xxxv 

That for his part, he had long been an admirer of him, but 
more especially now, when he had appeared with much vigor 
and skill, so stout an advocate in the behalf of religion, that 
alone he seemed able to support it/ Then he tells him that as 
he himself was resolutely bent to promote true religion in his 
kingdom, and to bring it back to its primitive standard ; that 
the word of God might be the test of it ; so much the more 
concerned he was for him, lest being taken out of the way, he 
should want that assistance he did expect, and was sure he was 
ready to afford him in this his laudable design : he begs of him 
therefore to leave Italy and Germany, and to hasten over to 
England, where he might assure himself of a very kind reception, 
and what conditions he pleased ; he knew by long experience 
how many friends and patrons he had in England and hoped, 
that their joyning with himself, in persuading him over, and 
making good his own former promise of choosing England for 
setting up his staff, would have its weight. Can any thing be 
more condescending, than such an epistle from so ,great a 
prince ? 

" The foregoing elegant epistle of King Henry to Erasmus, 
seems by the date of the answer to be written in the year 1528, 
since we find an epistle to Sir Thomas More, which bears the 
same date, and seems to be an answer to it. "Where he tells him 
that amidst the perplexing circumstances in which he was then 
in *, his Majesty's epistle gave him great relief: his kind invitation 
to his kingdom, it seems was grounded upon his once saying, 
that England should be the place in which he would set up his 
staff. But alas ! things were now so with him, that it would 
become him more to find out a place for his burial, where he 
might be at rest, since he despaired of it while living. He 
desires him to make his apology to the King for not answering 
his epistle ; but he would not venture upon such a task, unless 



xxxvi Some Account of Erasmus. 

his mind was quite free, and he could do it handsomely, as 
became the dignity of the person he wrote to. So that he leaves 
this affair to his prudence and discretion. This was from Basil 
28 Feb. in 1528." * 

" Erasmus had a great opinion of Catherine z Henry the 
Vlllth's Queen, whom he calls the best of women ; dedicating- 
to her his book of ' Christian Matrimony' 3 as best suiting 
both to her piety, and circumstances ; she having so well be- 
haved herself in that state, till divorced from the King her 
husband : 4 knowing then how unjustly and barbarously she 
was used in that affair ; he writes a consolatory 5 epistle to her 
in a most Christian style, to support her under this affliction, 
and by some expressions in it, seems to hint at what was then 
in agitation relating to that affair ; putting her in mind of a 
marriage which is indissoluble, and that the afflictions she 
might meet with in this world would have a happy issue as to 
her better part \ that as she had cast anchor on him who could 
never fail her, even in the greatest extremity, so he would not 
have her much concerned at any thing that had or could happen 
to her." 6 

" In a letter to his patron Montjoy he thanks Queen Catherine 
for a present, which she had sent him, and says 'if my health 
were but tolerable, I should now want neither income nor 
dignity ; but as I remember your lordship used to say, « fortune 
offers a man bread when he hath no teeth to chew it. ' " 7 

In 1529 Erasmus removed to Friburg. 

1532. This year his esteemed patron, the Archbishop War- 
ham died. Erasmus in his Colloquy "The Religious Pilgrim- 

1 Knight, p. 224. 2 Erasroi. Epi<:t. H. viii. coram Parapbra^. in Lucarn. 
3 Era^ Ep. Jac. Pisoni. 4 10th May, 1538. 

5 Datum Basilii An. 1528. Erasmi Epist. Ed. Leid. p. 163. 

6 Knight, p. 252. 7 Ep. 1077. Jortin, i. p. 482. 



Some Account of Erasmus. xxxvii 

age," observed, « if you knew Warham, you would take him for 
humanity itself; he is a person of such excellent learning^ 
candor of manners and piety of life, that there is nothing 
wanting to make him a most accomplished prelate," 

This is an affectionate, but unmerited commendation : War- 
ham, although generous to the poor and a patron of learning, 
too often allowed persecuting bigotry to overpower his com- 
passion. 1 He despised riches, " although he passed through 
the highest and most worthy places ; both in church and state, 
yet he so little minded his own advantage, that he left no more 
than sufficient to pay his debts and funeral charges. Upon his 
death-bed he inquired what money he had : when his steward 
replied thirty pounds, he cheerfully observed, that was enough 
to last him to heaven." 2 

" From the letters of Erasmus to Castellanus, we learn that 
they both wrote a very bad hand. As to Erasmus, his manu- 
script of the < Lingua/ was such a scrawl, that he himself 
could hardly decypher it, when he attempted by the help of 
his copy to correct the faults, which had slipt into the edition 
of 1525. This he tells us himself at the head of the errata. 3 

" He * used to dine late that he might have a long morning 
to study in. After dinner he would converse cheerfully with 
his friends about all sorts of subjects, and deliver his opinions 
very freely upon men and things. So says Milichius who was 
a student at Friburg, and there had the pleasure of being 
acquainted with Erasmus." 5 

Holbein frequently painted his friend Erasmus. " After 



1 Vide Burnet, Hist. Reform. Vol. i. p. 127. 
z Ep. 466. c. 1356. Knight, p. 233. 

3 Bayle Castellan. Not. D.and Xiem. Crit. p. 3099. Jortin. vol i. p 
506. 

4 Melch. Adam, Vit. Milichii. ' Jortin, vol. i. p. 602. 



xxxviii Some Account of Erasmus. 

Holbein came to England by the recommendation of Erasmus 
to Sir Thomas More, in a conversation with him, he told Sir 
Thomas that he had the honor to be known by one of our English 
lords, who had called upon him as he travelled through Basil. 
Sir Thomas More was very desirous to know his name, but 
Holbein had forgot it, and though he gave a very lively descrip- 
tion of his person, that was not sufficient to make Sir Thomas 
understand who he was, but taking his pencil, he drew him so 
exactly, that though many years were past since he saw him, and 
that only in a transient view, Sir Thomas More knew him 
immediately to be the Earl of Arundel, son to Thomas Duke of 
Norfolk. " 

More was beheaded 5*th July, 1535, by order of the brutal 
Henry, for denying his supremacy. 

" Luther being asked whether Thomas More was executed 
for the Gospel's sake ? answered, ( No, in no wise ; for he was 
a notable tyrant. He was the King's chief counsellor, a very 
learned and a wise man. He shed the blood of many innocent 
Christians that confessed the Gospel ; those he plagued, and 
tormented with strange instruments like an hangmane" z 

More suffered in defence of the corrupt tenets of the Church 
of Rome, and not for the sake of the gospel : it is the cause, not 
the persecution, which makes a martyr — he was equal to Luther 
in scurrility, and procured « the reputation of having the best 
knack of any man in Europe at calling bad names in good 
latin." 3 Burnet observes, " More's superstition seems indeed 
contemptible •, but the constancy of his mind was truly wonder- 
ful." 4 His judicial talent and assiduity were remarkable ; his 

1 Knight, p. 312. 

a Luther's Colloq. Mensal p. 464. Et vide Burnet Hist. Reform, vol. i. 
158. iii. 29, 31. 3 Pref. to Hooper's Life of More, p. 8. 

4 Hist. Reform, vol. iii. 172. 



Some Account of Erasmus. xxxix 

integrity was proof against all the malice of his enemies, and 
his whole life marked by the most noble disinterestedness. 

1533 " The States of Holland made Erasmus a present of two 
hundred franks, the first compliment, which he had received 
from his country. The Senate of Besancon also made him a 
present." ' 

"Some strolling knaves, having learned from his writings 
the name of his illustrious friends and correspondents, had 
gone about in Germany, Italy, and Poland, pretending to be his 
disciples or his domestics, and had got many good presents by 
this stratagem." x 

1536 (( They" says Erasmus, " who paid me pensions, now 
excuse themselves : but yet Thomas Cromwell, the King's secre- 
tary and the person who is most in his favor, hath sent me, I 
know not why, twenty angels, the Archbishop of Canterbury 
(Cranmer) eighteen, and the Bishop of Lincoln, fifteen ; but 
none of them have sent me a letter." 3 

He rejected the most flattering invitations from Sovereigns 
and Popes ; so great was his dread of the restraints of a court, 
contempt of wealth and luxury, and attachment to his studies. 

« As he travelled in Switzerland, each city paid him the like 
honors and compliments as were due to Embassadors or persons 
of the highest rank ; attending him in great state, and making 
presents of their choicest wines." 4 

This year he returned to Basil ; he prepared all his works 
for the press, and made his will in February, bequeathing a 
few legacies to his friends, and the residue of his property to 
his three executors, men of great honor and generosity ; in 



1 Ep. 1214. 1251. 12G9. 2 Jortin, i. p. 537. 

3 Bayle Diet. Coiibin. (Act. Erudit. xliii. 140. Maittairc ii. 357. Jortin 
vol. i. p. 572.) 4 Knight, p. 323. 



xl Some Account of Erasmus. 

trust to relieve the sick and poor, to portion young women on 
marriage, and assist deserving students. 

It was reported that he left above seven thousand ducats. 1 
His last letter is dated 28th June. In June he was attacked 
by. a dysentery : he anticipated his dissolution, prayed fervently 
for mercy ; repeating, " dear God ! O Jesus, have mercy on 
me ! O Lord deliver me ! Lord put an end to my misery ! 
Lord have mercy upon me ! " and expired the 12th July, 1536, 
aged 69, in communion with the church of Rome, " but with- 
out having any of the Catholic superstitions administered, but 
according to the true tenor of the Gospel, taking sanctuary in 
nothing but the mercies of God in Christ." 2 

His funeral was attended by the Municipality and University 
of Basil, and his body interred in the Cathedral, on the left side 
near the choir, and a marble monument erected. In 1549, a 
statue of wood was set up at Roterdam. 1555, one of stone 
was substituted. 1572, the Spaniards defaced and threw it 
down, but it was restored. 1622, one of bronze, eight feet 
high with the pedestal, was erected. 

The magistrates placed this inscription on the house where 
he was born. 

" In hac parva domo, natus erat magnus Erasmus." 
The house being rebuilt, has the following inscription. 
" JEdibus his onus mundum decoravit Erasmus 

Artibus ingenuis, religione, fide. 

Fatal is series nobis invidit Erasnmm, 

At Desiderium tollere non potuit. 

T. D. Vou. 1696." 
M At Basil, the place in which the Professors of Divinity read 
winter lectures, is called the College of Erasmus. His cabinet 



1 Burigni, Life of Erasmus, torn. ii. 121. 

' Bailey, Life of Erasmus, prefixed to Colloquies. 



Some Account of Erasmus. xli 

is one of the most considerable rarities of the city ; it contains 
his ring, his seal, his sword, his knife, his pencil, his will 
written with his own hand, his picture by Holbein, which is 
a masterpiece. The magistrates bought this cabinet in 1661, 
for nine thousand crowns, of the descendants of Bonif. Amer- 
bachius, the heir of Erasmus. If we may believe Patin, they 
made a present of it ; but as another traveller says, they sold it 
to the University for a thousand crowns." I 

His works were published by Froben, at Basil, 1540, in nine 
vol. fol. dedicated to Charles V. ; consisting of translations from 
Lucian, Plutarch, Chrysostom, Jerome, Athanasius, and others : 
of grammatical pieces, adages, apothegms, commentaries, and 
epistles. Le Clerc published a new edition atLeyden, in 1703, 
in eleven volumes folio. 

" Beatus Rhenanus hath given us a description of his person, 
temper, and behaviour : and tells us that he was low of stature, 
but not remarkably short j that he was well shaped ; of a fair 
complexion ; his hair in his youth of a pale yellow ; grey eyes ; 
a cheerful countenance ; a low voice ; an agreeable elocution ; 
that he was neat and decent in his apparel ; that he had a very 
tender and infirm constitution, and a vast memory 5, that he was 
an agreeable companion, a very constant friend, generous, cha- 
ritable, &c. Erasmus hath declared of himself that he was not 
fond of money (Tom. ix. c. 100.) and appeals to every one that 
knew him," z 

t( He had for his seal, the God Terminus, with the inscrip- 
tion c concede- nulli.' Hence he was accused, by some of his 
stupid and malicious enemies, of insufferable vanity, of repre- 
senting himself as superigr to all mankind. The seal was not 



1 Bayle, Erasme, Not. II. Jortin, vol. i. p. 598. 
* Jortin, vol. i. p. 580. 

Ch. Ma. 



xlii Some Account of Erasmus. 

of his own contrivance, but an ancient seal given him by his 
pupil, the Archbishop of St. Andrew's. Erasmus added the 
legend, and thought it a good symbolical representation of death, 
which every wise man ought to have before his eyes, and for 
which he should hold himself prepared." ■ 

Du Pin asserts, that, "he was without question the finest 
genius, and the most learned person, of his age." 

" His works of devotion have an elegance not to be found in 
the books of the Mystics." 

Bayle says, " he was one of the greatest men that ever was 
in the commonwealth of learning." Tit* Erasme. 

Fuller observes, he was " the morning star of learning." Holy 
State, b. ii. c. 8. 

« No one insists more clearly on the true genius of Christ- 
ianity than Erasmus ; or launches out with more warmth against 
that which is the very bane of any religion whatsoever ; I mean 
the opus operatum, (as the schools speak) or resting in the out- 
ward forms of religion, which may be of ill consequence to the 
reformed, as it has been to the Church of Rome : it being too 
visible that even many Protestants please themselves in what is 
of the least consequence towards the favor of God and eternal 
life ; unhappily imagining, that if they do but show their zeal 
for things, which are of little account in comparison of the 
weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, fyc. 2 they are in 
a safe way to happiness : and yet still live in the neglect of 
Christian graces and virtues, absolutely necessary towards the 
rendering them favorites of heaven ; and without which an 
orthodox belief, and the most nice observance of rites and cere- 
monies, will be of little service towards their main interest ! " 
Knight, Introduct. to Life of Erasmus, p. xx. 



Jortin, vol. i. p. 467. 2 Matt, xxiii. '->3. 



Some Account of Erasmus. xliii 

« Perhaps no man has obliged the public with a greater num- 
ber of useful volumes than our author j every thing that comes 
from him instructs, and may as easily be known by the masterly 
strokes, as his friend Hans Holbein's pieces by the boldness of 
the paint and the freshness of the colors." Citedby Knight, ib. 
p. xxviii. 

Jortin observes, " Erasmus often declares he could not endure 
the fatigue of revising, polishing and correcting his own works 5 
' especially since for all his pains he had no prospect of attaining 
any thing besides scholars' wages, weak eyes, ill health, short 
commons, and a little reputation mixed with much envy and 
detraction.' " Vol. i. p. 67. etvide Eras. Ep. to Longolius % 
l.April> 1519. 

" The style of Erasmus is that of a man who had a strong 
memory, a natural elocution, a lively fancy, and a ready inven- 
tion ; who composed with great facility and rapidity, and who 
did not care for the trouble of revising and correcting : who 
had spent all his days in reading, writing, and talking Latin \ 
for he seems to have had no taste for modern languages, and 
perhaps he had almost forgotten his mother tongue. His style 
therefore is always unaffected, easy, copious, fluent and clear ; 
but not always perfectly pure and strictly classical. He hath 
been censured, as a dealer in barbarisms, by persons who not 
only had not half of his abilities and erudition, but who did not 
even write Latin half so well as he." Vol. i. p. 601. 

" If Erasmus had had an absolute power to establish a form 
of religion in any country, he would have been a moderate man, 
and a latitudinarian as to the credenda. He would have pro- 
posed few articles of faith, and those with a primitive simplicity. 
This system, indeed, would have been highly disagreeable to the 
men who enjoy no comfort in believing, or in pretending to 
believe, what they think fit, unless they can vex, harass and 



xliv Some Account of Erasmus. 

torment, all those who will not submit to their decisions." lb. 
p. 609. 

ic True criticism owed its re-establishment to him, and the 
sublime science of morality reckons him amongst the number of 
its votaries." Cheval. Mehegan's View of Univ. Modern Hist. 
by H. Fox. vol. ii. p. 236. 

I could fill pages with encomiums upon his learning ; but 
will not detain the reader from the Manual. 



THE 



CHRISTIAN'S MANUAL, 



CHAP. T. 

Of the duty of Watching, 

IT ought always to be remembered, that life is a warfare, as 
Job, that veteran, observes-, 1 (a) and that the majority are too 



1 " Whence is it that a Christian's life is but a warfare ? 

" First, it comes hence because they are odious unto Satan, he 
knows that they are mortal enemies unto him, yea those that shall 
confound and overthrow him, and therefore he bruises their heels, 
Gen. iii. 15. and he raises up tumults against them, Acts xix. 

" Secondly, the righteous are odious unto the world, who hate 
Christ, and all true Christians, John xiv. and hence their life is but 
a warfare. 

" Religion, and the word of God, 1st. Condemn sins and the 
ways of the world. 2dly. The gains which come by oppression, 
craft, deceit, and the like. 3dly. The delights, honours, and vani- 
ties of the world. 4thly. The wisdom of the world itself counting 
it but foolishness, and hence the world holds war with all those 
who adhere to the word. 

(a) V. 7. xiv. 1. Eccles. ii. 23. Acts xiv. 22. 
Ch. Ma. A 



2 The Christian's Manual. 

easily imposed upon by the pleasing delusions of this enchant-, 

" Thirdly, the godly cannot endure the wickedness of the world, 
from whence it comes that the world wars with them. The mo- 
deration and humility of holy men often suffer much, and make 
them live peaceable with all, Rom. xii. 18. ; and hide and conceal 
a multitude of sins, 1 Pet. iv. 8. 

" But when the word comes and doth first detest impiety and the 
wickedness of the world, and secondly, commands the faithful to 
reprove the works of darkness, and to have no fellowship with 
them, Ephes. v. 11. 13. then the godly shew their dislike, and the 
worldlings hate them for that dislike ; true zeal respects none but 
God and his glory, and therefore when he is dishonoured, the 
righteous cannot hold their peace, neither are careful to please men, 
GaL l, 10- and therefore the world holds war with them. 

« How manifold is our Christian and spiritual warfare. How 
may we know whether we be soldiers or not. Examine seriously 
these four things, viz. 

" 1st. Whether dost thou oppose Satan, sin, the flesh, and thy^ 
self, that is, withstandest all the devil's temptations and sin's pro- 
vocations, and thy own inbred corruptions and daily insultings. 

" 2dly. Whether dost thou oppose the world, and honour, and 
riches, and peace, and whatsoever else doth war against thy soul. 

" 3dly. Whether dost thou fight at thy own charges, or goest a 
warfare at the Lord's, 1 Cor. ix* 7. For the Lord doth first pre- 
pare his soldiers by illumination and knowledge, Heb. x. 32. And 
then secondly, arm them with Christian and spiritual weapons, 
Ephes. vi. 14. And thirdly, support and strengthen them in the 
day of battle, Ps. xxxiv. 7. Luke ii. 13. 

(i 4thly. Hast thou put off all love of the world, and worldly 
cares, for no man that goeth a warfare entangleth himself with the 
affairs of this world, 2 Tim. ii. 4." — Ward, Theological Questions 
upon Matt, x. 34. 36, pt, 2. p, 50. et vide Perkin Theology, 
c. xl. p. 85. 

a How can we think ourselves unhappy in treading the footsteps 
of him who has been partaker of all our miseries ? Or how can our 
hearts be sensible of torments, whilst we follow the God of suffer- 
ings and the Man of pains ? The misfortunes he thinks proper to 
send us, are so many felicities, for the hand that gives them changes 
their nature, and if we do not taste the sweets that attend them, we 



Chap. I. Of the duty of Watching, 3 

ing *world y x untimely rejoicing before the battle is won : and, as 
if all was peace, they lull themselves into the sweetest dreams 
of security, calm and unmoved, though attacked daily by the 
numberless powers of vice, besieged with the various stratagems, 
and constant ambushes of the enemy. 2 To be sensible of your 
extreme danger, imagine yourself observed by an innumerable 
host of malicious demons, watching a fair opportunity of play- 
ing their whole artillery against you, and transfixing your soul 

may on that account only call ourselves unhappy, since it is our 
insensibility which makes us truly so. When the felicities of heaven 
are not the objects of our desires, the happiness we expect here on 
earth, proves the cause of our inquietudes. If our mind be not 
intent on the work of salvation, our heart will be void of conso- 
lation from those dangers which precede our dissolution." 

Ephrem Syrus said, «' a resolute traveller knows his journey is 
long, and the way dirty, but goes on in hopes to come to his house ; 
so let the Christian, though the way to heaven be narrow, though 
it be set with troubles and persecutions, go on till he has finished 
his course with joy, for heaven is his home." [Died An. 404.) 

The Mexicans thus salute their new-born infants, M thou art 
come into this world to suffer, take it patiently, and hold thy 
peace." 

" Loose then from earth, the grasp of fond desire, 
Weigh anchor and some happier clime explore." 

Young, Night 2. 

Let no man impiously charge God as the author of the evils of 
life, but ascribe them to the wickedness of his first parents, and bad 
passions of his fellow creatures ; for what more delightful state can 
the most vivid imagination paint, than that of a community con- 
forming itself to the benevolent precepts of the Gospel ! 

If a man enters a well constituted society, and the majority of the 
members violate its regulations, and interrupt their own, and the 
general happiness, does he censure the framer of the laws, or the 
misconduct of the individuals ? 

1 " ye sons of men how long mil ye turn my glory into shame ? 
how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing." Ps. iv. 2. 

* " See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools hut as wise" 
Ephes. v. 15. 1 Cor.x. 12. 



4 The Christian's Manual. 

with their poisoned arrows, 1 which wound infallibly, if not 
repulsed by the impenetrable shield of faith, (a) The world 
also, which lieth in wickedness, (b) hems us in, it being directly 
opposite to Christ. 2 It has several ways of offending, some- 
times by open force, assailing us with adversity, sometimes 
tempting us to capitulate, by false promises of immense rewards, 
at other times it circumvents and steals upon us, seizing and 
devouring its weak and thoughtless prey. 3 Beneath, the wily 



" Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a 
roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour : Whom re- 
sist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accom- 
plished in your brethren that are in the world." 1 Pet. v. S 8c 9. 
Job i. 7. 

2 " Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. 
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."— 
" For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the last of the 
eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the tvorld." — 
< : And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth 
the will of God abideth for ever." 1 John ii. 15. 16. 17. Rom. 
viii. 6. 7. 13. James iv. 4. Rom. xii. 1. 2. 

3 Love and respect for this world are the most powerful impe- 
diments to Christianity, John xii. 43. 2 Tim. iv. 10. 

" The first reason why we must not be conformed to this world, is 
because this is not such a world as we may safely imitate, 'tis not a 
world for us to be conformed to ; 'tis not safe following the multi- 
tude at any time, much less now ; nor in any thing, but least of all 
in the ordering our life and conversation. 'Tis a very ill guide in 
matters of opinion, but much worse in matters of practice ; for the 
world is a mere theatre of folly, a stage of vice and debauchery, 
one great aceldema of blood and cruelty, and to use the description 
of St. John ' the whole world lieth in wickedness,' 1 John v. 19. The 
words are emphatical ; it has not only fallen into the gulph of sin, 
but it lies there contentedly and quietly ; 'tis not only slightly 
dipped and stained with the waters of impurity, but it lies as it 
were moated round, or rather all over drenched and soaked in them, 
like the earth in the universal deluge. 

(o) Ephes. vi. 16. 1 Cor. xvi. 13. (6) 1 John v. 19. Matt. xiii. 22. 



Chap. I. Of the duty of Watching. 5 

serpent, the first betrayer of our peace, (a) sometimes concealed 
in the pleasant verdure, sometimes lurking in his cave writhed 



" Secondly, another reason why we must not be conformed to 
this world, is because by so doing we shall confirm and strengthen 
the cause of wickedness, and give it settlement, succession, and 
perpetuity, for we shall countenance and embolden those whom we 
imitate, and cause others to imitate us, and they again will be a 
precedent to others, and so on till vice pretend to the right of 
custom and prescription, and iniquity be established by a law. This 
is one great reason why the world is so bad now, and 'tis the best 
expedient the devil has to make it yet worse ; for by this the vices 
of the former ages descend upon the future, sin becomes hereditary, 
cKildren transcribe their vicious parents, and actual like original sin 
is entailed upon posterity. 

(i Again thirdly, another reason why we Christians must not con- 
form to this world, is because both the precepts and the rewards of 
our religion require a very different method of life from what is 
ordinarily practised ; the precepts are strict and severe, and the 
rewards high and noble, such indeed as cannot be conceived for 
*their greatness, and they both call for a very excellent and extraor- 
dinary way of conversation, for after the common way of living, 
we shall neither obtain the one, nor fulfil the other. Indeed our 
religion obliges us to great strictness and singularity, and a Christian 
cannot be like himself, if he be like other men. To be a Christian 
indeed is to be a nevo creature, to be new in nature, and new in life 
and conversation ; he must not be like his former self, much less 
like the rest of the world. The argument is the Apostle's, * Ye are 
all the children of light, and the children of the day ;' that is, 
Christians, professors of an holy and excellent religion, whose pre- 
cepts are excellently good, and whose promises are excellently great. 
And what then ? Therefore, « let us not sleep as others do, but let 
us watch and be sober,' 1 Thess. v. 5. 6. 

" Again fourthly, and lastly, we Christians have one more pecu- 
liar reason not to be conformed to this world, we have renounced it 
in our baptism with all its pomps and vanities ; by which are meant 
not only the heathen games and spectacles, their vain shows and 

(a) Gen. iii, 2 Cor, xi. 3. 



6 The Christian's Manual. 

in his circling folds, never ceases to watch our steps, and entice 
us by deadly enjoyments to sin. Then, as if we had not ene- 
mies sufficient around us, we carry one more intimate even in 
our bosoms, and wear him in our very hearts : (a) l nothing 
can be nearer, therefore nothing more dangerous. This is the 
old Adam, the earthly part in us, {b) that is more familiar than 
a friend, keener than an enemy, whom we can neither keep off 
with ramparts, or expel the camp. We cannot keep too many 
spies upon him, to prevent his surrendering God's temple (c) to 
the adversary. 

Seeing then we are all engaged in so dreadful a conflict, with 
enemies so numerous, treacherous, expert, and sworn to our 
destruction ; can we be so heedless as not to take arms, not to 
stand upon our guard, and examine all that passes ? But as if 
there was no danger near, shall we revel, sport, play, and swim 
in repeated pleasures ? So effeminate are our manners, as if life, 
instead of a warfare, was designed to be a banquet. 2 Thus we 

loose festivities, their lewd Bacchanals and Saturnals, which we 
renounce absolutely, and the wealth and glory and grandeur even 
of the Christian world, as often as they prove inconsistent with the 
ends of our holy institution, but also the promiscuous company, the 
general practices, and the popular examples of this world, which 
are generally so very corrupt and wicked, that we renounce them, 
not upon supposition, as in the other instance, but at a venture. 
The very first .step to a Christian life, is to die to the world, and to 
Its general usages and customs ; and if we follow Christ, we must 
forsake the multitudes." — Norris Practical Discourses, vol. ii. 
p. 63. 

1 " We are betrayed and killed by our thoughts, which consume 
and poison the soul." — Isidore, Bishop of Seville, (died An. 636.) 

z " Woe unto you that are full, for ye shall hunger. Woe unto 
you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and u>eep" Luke vi. 25« 
xxi. 34. Isa. v. 11. Phil. iii. 18. 19. Job xxi. 12. 30. 
" Is this our duty, wisdom, glory, gain ? 
(These heav'n benign in vital union binds) 

(a) Matt. xv. 19. 20. Rom. vii. 23. 

(b) 1 Cor. xv. 47. Ephes. ii. 1—10. (c) 1 Cor. iii. 16. 17. 



Chap. L Of the duty of Watching, 7 

are crowned with chaplets and roses, when we should be ac- 
coutred for the battle ; are sunk in ease and luxury, when we 
ought to be going through our exercise ; and are striking the 
soft lute with our fingers, that arms would better become : as 
if that deserved the name of peace, which is the most formida- 
ble war. For whosoever is in amity with vice, wages war with 
that God, whom he entered into covenant with at his Baptism. 1 
And who but a madman can say, it is peace, when he has God 
for his enemy, who is the only author and giver of peace ? who 
hath proclaimed by his prophet, there is no peace to the wicked, (a) 
Indeed he grants the blessing of peace on no other terms than 
that we fight rancorously with sin, 2, so long as we garrison this 
mortal body. On the other hand, if we cherish sin, we shall 



And sport we like the natives of the bough 

When vernal suns inspire ? Amusement reigns 

Man's great demand : to trifle is to live : 

And is it then a trifle too to die ? 

Wit's oracles 1 say, dreamers of gay dreams, 

How will you weather an eternal night, 

Where such expedients fail ?" Young Night lu 

1 " But thou, O man of God, flee these things ; and follow after 
righteousness, godliness, Jaith, love, patience, meekness." — ** Fight the 
good fght of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also 
called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." 
1. Tim. vi. 11, 12. " If ye then be risen 'with Christ, seek those 
things which are above, "where Christ sitteth on the right hand of 
God. — Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth ; 

fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence and 
covetousness, which is idolatry ; — For which things sake, the wrath of 
God cometh upon the children of disobedience" Col. iii. 1.5. 6. Ephes. 
iv. 22. 24. " Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep : let your laughter 
be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. — Humble yourselves 
in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you tip" James, iv. 9. 10. 

2 " Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus 
Christ." 2Tim.ii. 3. 

(a) Tsui. lvJi. 20.01. 



8 The Christian's Manual. 

make him doubly our enemy, whose friendship is most valua- 
ble ; because we side with that which is as contrary to God, as 
light and darkness ; and ungratefully violate the promise we 
made to him, though bound to perform it by the most solemn 
rites. Knoweth not the Christian soldier, that, when he was 
baptized, he listed under Christ's banner, to whose goodness he 
stands indebted for life and salvation ? x Can he forget, that he 
hath expressly sworn to obey the will of his benevolent chief, 
that he hath also taken the sacraments as an earnest, and de- 
voted himself to hell and destruction, if he proves false to his 
engagements ? 2 Why were you baptized, but to shew that you 
purposed to fight manfully under Christ's banner ? What a 



1 " Jesus saith unto him, lam the way, and the truth, and the life $ 
no man comeih unto the Father but by me" John xiv. 6. Actsiv. 12. 

* ** For he that eateth and drinheth unworthily, eateth and drinketh 
damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body" 1 Cor. xi. 29. 

3 (c For as many of you as have been baptized unto Christ have put 
on Christ." Gal. iii. 27. " We are to labour therefore after the 
spirit and power of these two sacraments in our hearts, that they 
may be manifested in our lives and conversations, otherwise the let- 
ter of them can only condemn us : for as « he is not a Jew,' so 
neither is he a Christian < who is one outwardly,' but he is a true Jew 
and he is a true Christian l who is so inwardly,' (Rom. ii. 28. 29.) 
from whose heart, and members, the lust of the flesh, the lust of 
the eyes, and the pride of life, are cut off; who is dead, and buried 
to sin, and risen again to righteousness : this blessed work sacra- 
mentally shewn forth, and begun in baptism, is to be continued 
through life, by the successive renovations of repentance, by daily 
accessions of knowledge, faith and chaiity, producing and carry- 
ing on a gradual growth in grace until it be perfected. >, Home. 
Discourses, Vol. I. Disc. xi. page 218. 

" This is the privilege we are admitted to by baptism, of being 
the children of God : and it is likewise no less significant of our 
duty, for every relation whatsoever necessarily supposes and implies 
the duty correspondent to that relation. If therefore we live not in 
obedience to the commands of our heavenly Father, it will nothing 
profit us to have had the name of his children ; nay, we shall be re- 



Chap. I. Of the duty of Watching. 9 

shame is it for one man to desert his prince, though another 
man ? What person then can scorn Christ, whom considered as 
God he must fear ; as made man for his sake, he ought to love ? 
The very name of Christian reminds you of your duty to 
Christ. What then can induce you to revolt basely to the enemy, 
from whom he hath redeemed you with his precious blood ? 
Why take the devil's pay, to serve again in his rebellious army ? 
How dare you bear arms against that King, who laid down his 
life for you ? For as he said, u he that is ?iot with me, is 
against me, and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth," 
Luke xi. 23. l And do but attend to the reward of your rebel- 

jected and punished with so much the greater severity for not 
having lived * worthy of the vocation therewith we were called.' " 
( Ephes. iv. I.) Clarke Expos. qftheCatech.p. 15. 

1 " And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which 1 
say." Luke vi. 46. " He that saith he abideih in him, ought him- 
self also so to walk, even as he walked. — For this is the love of God, 
that we keep his commandments ; and his commandments are not 
grievous" 1 John, ii. 6. — v. 3. " Knowing this, that our old man 
is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that 
henceforth we shoidd not serve sin. — Likewise reckon ye also yourselves 
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. — Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye 
should obey it in the lusts thereof." Rom. vi. 6. 11. 1 2. " And they 
that are Christ* s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts™ 
Gal. v. 24. 

Athenagoras told the emperor that " no Christian could be a 
bad man unless he were a hypocrite." Legatio pro Christian. p. 4. 
(An. 170.) 

" Better had it been for all such persons never to have been bap- 
tized at all into the name of Christ than that by a life unsuitable to 
that worthy character they should dishonour both his name and 
their own. Our Christian name is a perpetual declaration of our 
being dedicated to the service of Christ, and it is a shameful neg- 
ligence, and want of consideration, that make us generally seem so 
entirely to have forgot the thing while the word is continually in 
Our mouths." Clarke Exp@s. of the Catech. p. 4. 

M For not to regard those obligations is to renounce his baptism, 



10 The Christian's Manual. 

lion. If you, who conform to this world, would know what 
that is, hear St. Paul, " the wages of sin is death" (a) 1 Who 
would willingly endanger his body in the most justifiable war ? 
You by leaguing with the devil obtain the perdition of your 
soul. In furious wars 2 which men wage with men, whether 



and to renounce baptism is to renounce all the privileges of being a 
Christian, both with regard to the favour of God in this life, and 
the hopes of salvation in that which is to come." IL p. -7. 

" Ye brainless wits ! ye baptis'd infidels ! 

Ye worse for mending ! wash'd to fouler stains ! 

The ransom was paid down ! 

And was the ransom paid ? — It was f and paid 

(What can exalt the bounty more ?) for you." 

Young. Night iv. 

1 " And these .shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the 
righteous into life eternals* Matt. xxv. 46. 

x " O what are these, 

Death's ministers, not men ? who thus deal death 

Inhumanly to men, and multiply 

Ten thousand fold the sin of him who slew 

His brother : for of whom such massacre 

Make they, but of their brethren ; men of men." Milton. 

61 Oh shame to men, devil with devil damn'd 
Firm concord holds, men only disagree. Ik 

In 1517, Erasmus composed his celebrated " Pacis Querela " or 
"Complaint of Peace," and he treats the same subject in his " Instruc- 
tions for a Christian Prince :" he considered no wars justifiable, but 
for self-defence. 

In the Colloquy, " the Soldier's Confession," he observes, '< a 
military life is undoubtedly of all courses the most wicked, and the 
most miserable. The law of arms is the highest degree of iniquity : 
do you never think what will become of your soul if you are knocked 
on the head ?" 

And in that of "Charon," he expresses his detestation of war. 

In his " Praise of Folly," censuring the ambition of popes, he re- 

(«) Rom. vi.23. 



Chap, I. Of the duty of Watching. II 

prompted by brutal rage, or necessary defence, have you not 
observed, how the spirits of the soldiers have been elevated by 



marks, " And though warlbe so brutish that it becomes the beasts 
rather than men, so extravagant, that the poets feigned it an effect 
of the furies ; so licentious, that it stops the course of all justice, and 
honesty : so desperate, that it is best waged by ruffians, and banditti: 
and so unchristian, that it is contrary to the express commands of 
the Gospel : yet, in spite of all this, peace is too quiet, too inactive, 
and they must be engaged in the storms of war. 

" And yet some of their learned fawning courtiers will interpret 
this notorious madness for zeal, and piety, and fortitude ; having 
found out the way, how a man may draw his sword, and sheath it 
in his brother's bowels, and yet not offend against the. duty of the 
Second Table, whereby we are obliged to love our neighbour as 
ourselves." 

It is a Christian's duty to promote universal love and benevolence. 
** Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you" Luke vi. 27. 
—John xiii. 34. 35. " From whence come tvars andfghtings among 
you ? Come they not hence, even of your lusts tliat war in your mem-' 
bers? Ye lust and have not ; ye kill and desire to have, and cannot 
obtain ; ye fght and war." James iv. 1.2. 

Cyprian says, " View all the terrible forms of war, and blood- 
shed ; when a single murder is committed, it shall be deemed per- 
haps a crime, but that crime shall be called a virtue, when commit- 
ted under the shelter of public authority." " Of the Grace of God" 
S.,5. (An. 246.) 

Lactantius denies that a good man ought to make war. Lib. 5. 
c. 8. 

Taylor, in his most excellent " Rule of Conscience," observes, 
" The Christian Religion has made no particular provisions for the 
conduct of war, under a proper title, because it has so commanded 
all the actions of men, so ordered the religion, so taken care that 
men shall be just, and do no wrong, has given laws so perfect, rules 
so excellent, threatnings so severe, promises so glorious, that there 
can be nothing wanting towards the peace and felicity of mankind, 
but the wills of men. If men be subjects of Christ's law, they can 
never go to war with each other ; but when they are out of the state 
of laws and peace, they fall into the state of war ; which being con- 



12 The Christian's Manual. 

the promises of plunder, the terror of the enemies cruelty, the 
desire of applause, or the shame of cowardice : fired with these 



trary to peace, is also without all laws : so that the injurious person 
is not to inquire how to conduct his war, for he is gone beyond all 
law." S. 21. 

" Princes must keep within the limits of a just defence, and do 
as they would be done to." S. 22. 

" No other war is just but what is defensive." S. 23. 
" The actions of good men in Scripture are not a competent war- 
rant for our imitation ; not only when they are reproved, but even 
when they are set down without censure." 

Chrysostom says, " We Christians ought to shew a greater virtue, 
and more eminent sanctity : because we have received abundance 
of the spirit of God, and Christ's coming is a mighty gift : and if 
we should derive our warranties from the examples of the old Testa- 
ment, it were all one as if from the licenses of war we should take 
pattern for our comportment in the days of peace and laws, or 
from children learn what were the measures of a man." De Virgin* 
(died An, 407.) 

* Thus when St. Paul speaks of Gideon, Jephthah, David, 
Samson, and Deborah, and Barueh, who through faith subdued 
kingdoms : here their subduing kingdoms by invasion and hostility- 
is not propounded as imitable, but their faith only, and therefore 
let us follow their faith, but not their fighting ; and carry the faith 
to heathen countries, but not arms." 5. 27. 

" Actions done in the old Testament, though by a command of 
God, do not warrant us, or become justifiable precedents without 
such an express command as they had, if the command was special 
and personal, the obedience was just so limited, and could not pass 
beyond the person." S, 29. 

" But that Christians may drive out an invading army, that they 
may kill them that resist, that they may by war defend the public 
rights, in which all the private are involved, they may safely take 
for their warrant, the example of Abraham, fighting in behalf of 
the king of Sodom ; the act of Melchisedec in blessing God for the 
success of that battle ; the wars of the Judges and of David, be- 
cause these were just and necessary, by special command or neces- 
sary defence." S. 31. —Jeremy Taylor {Chaplain to Ch. I, and 



Chap. I. Of the duty of Watching. 13 

incentives, what toil have they not endured, what danger run, 
and with what eagerness engaged ? and all this for how mean 



Bishop ofDovon fy Connor) " Rule of Conscience " b. ii. c. 2. rule vii. 
p. 288 Vide Matt. v. 21—48. 

William the Conqueror was extremely alarmed on his death-bed, 
and entreated the clergy to intercede for mercy, exclaiming, " Be- 
ing laden with many and grievous sins, (O Christ) I tremble ; and 
being ready to be taken (by and by) unto the terrible examination 
of God, I am ignorant what I should do : for I have been brought 
up in fea»-s of arms even from my childhood, I am greatly polluted 
with effusion of much blood ; I can by no means number the evils 
which I have done for this sixty-four years, wherein I have lived in 
this troublesome life, for the which I am now constrained without 
stay, to render an account to the just Judge." 

And discoursing of his conquest of England he observed, " al- 
though manly greediness upon such triumphs rejoiceth, yet inwardly 
a careful fear pricketh and biteth me, when I consider that in all 
these, cruel rashness hath raged." Stow Annals, p. 122. 8? 124. 

Philip of Macedon having fallen in wrestling, and perceiving the 
print of his body in the dust, exclaimed, " Good God ! what a 
small portion of earth hath nature assigned us, and yet we covet 
the whole world." 

More, describing the Utopians, observes, " They detest war, as 
brutal, and which to the reproach of human nature, is more prac- 
tised by man, than by any beast. In opposition to the sentiment of 
almost every other country, they think nothing more inglorious 
than the glory gained by war ; they engage not rashly in war,' but 
only to defend themselves or their friends from aggression, or to 
assist the oppressed in shaking off the yoke of tyranny," Utopia, 
by Cayley, vol. ii. p. 133. 

The true glory of rulers is, not to infuse into the manly breast 
the ferocity of a tyger, and stimulate the malignant passions, but 
to appease and humanize them. 

Who would not rather be called the friend and delight, than the 
enemy and terror of mankind ? 

Each state will best secure its solid prosperity, by respecting the 
rights of others. 



14 The Christian's Manual. 

and paltry a reward ? perhaps an encomium from their general, 
a man like themselves ; martial triumph, a laurel crown, a gar- 
land of oak leaves, an ode, or a little more money. 



With what energy the illustrious Phocion declaims against the 
immorality of wars ! 

" That virtue which is superior to the love of one's country, is 
the love of mankind. Extend your view, my dear Aristias, beyond 
the walls of Athens. Is there any thing more opposite to this hap- 
piness of society, the principle of which we are seeking, than these 
hatreds, these jealousies, these competitions which set nations at 
variance ? Has nature made men to torment and devour one ano- 
ther ? If she enjoins us mutual love, how wise would politics be in 
desiring that the love of one's country should prompt citizens to 
place the happiness of their republic in the misery of their neigh- 
bours ? Away with frontiers and limits which separate Attica from 
Greece, and Greece from the provinces of the Barbarians. 

«' How could it be, that men, who gave up their independence 
and formed societies, because they perceived their need of one ano- 
ther, did not perceive that societies are under an equal necessity of 
assisting, succouring, and loving each other, and did not imme- 
diately infer that it behoved them mutually to observe among 
themselves union and benevolence, as the inhabitants of a town ? 
How slow is reason in availing itself of experience, and shaking off 
the yoke of custom, prejudice and passion ! 

" Lycurgus, whose wisdom and abilities can never be sufficiently 
admired, was the man who first understood how much it concerns 
a state that would secure itself from the insults of its neighbours, 
to make the laws of that eternal union which nature has established 
between all mankind, the constant rule of deportment towards 
them. He would have the love of one's country, which till then 
had been in Lacedemon unjust, fierce, and ambitious, to be refined 
by the love of mankind. His humane republic, now no longer 
making any use of its forces but to protect weakness, and maintain 
the rights of justice, soon gained the esteem, friendship, and respect 
of all Greece, to which these sentiments gave a new taste for virtue. 

" "Why, my dear Aristias, should we think ourselves foreigners, 
when without the walls of our cities ? Why these jealousies, these 
animosities, these cruel wars ? Has nature bestowed on mankind 



Chap. I. Of the duty of Watching, 15 

But shame or hope has little or no effect upon us, though 
God himself is our spectator and rewarder. And what are the 



such a scanty portion of happiness, that it must be acquired sword 
in hand ? Knowledge of our real interest would make us all happy* 
Phocion. Convers. IV. by Nicocles. 

" That law which natural reason appoints for all mankind, is 
called the law of nations, because all nations make use of it. 

" It is common to mankind ; and all nations have framed laws 
through human necessity ; for wars arose, and the consequences 
were captivity, and servitude; both which are contrary to the 
law of nature/' Justin. Inst. I. i. fit. ii. s. I. 2. 

« That which we call natural right, or the Law of Nature, 
is the dictate of right reason, shewing the moral malignity, or the 
moral necessity, that there is in any act, by either the repugnancy, 
or congruity it has to rational nature, and, consequently that such 
an act is either commanded, or forbidden by God, who is the very 
author of Nature." Grotius, of War and Peace, b. 1. c. 1. s.x. 

« This then will appear a fundamental law of Nature. Every 
man ought, as far as in him lies, to promote and preserve a peaceful 
sociableness with others, agreeable to the main end and disposition 
of the human race in general. 

« By this term of sociableness, we would imply such a disposition 
of one man towards all others as shall suppose him united to them 
by benevolence, by peace, by charity ; and so, as it were, by a silent 
and a secret obligation. 

« All actions which necessarily conduce to this mutual sociable- 
ness, are commanded by the law of Nature ; and all those, on the 
contrary, are forbidden, which tend to its disturbance or dissolution." 
b. 2. c. iii. p. 134:. 

" Indeed these pernicious charms of avarice, and of ambition, 
have taken so fast hold on human minds, that even the most mild 
and gentle doctrine of our Saviour Christ which is perpetually in- 
culcating the rules of peace, of kindness, of goodwill, of propension 
to forgive injuries, of humility, of contempt of riches and worldly 
power ; hath not been able to extinguish the most unjust oppressions, 
treacheries, and wars, amongst the professors of that holy religion : 
so that Plutarch's description (Plutarch, in Pyrrho, p. 389. Edit. 



16 The Christian's Manual. 

rewards that he hath set before us ? not gold and silver, or such 
like trifles, but that which " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 



Wechel.) will too exactly hit the character of some Christian princes 
' whose desires, not seas, nor mountains, nor desarts, can stop and 
conclude ; not the bounds which separate Europe and Asia can 
circumscribe.' When such ambitious spirits border on one another's 
possessions, it is scarce possible that they should live satisfied with 
their proper shares, and abstain from mutual injuries and invasions. 
In effect, they are continually engaged against each other, envying 
and plotting being the necessary consequences of their temper. As 
for the two names of peace and of war, they use them just as they 
do money, not as they are determined by reason, but according to 
custom and convenience." b. ii. c. m.p. 113. 

" It is certain that nothing is more consonant to the law of nature, 
than that no man should offer unjust violence or injury to another ; 
and, on the other hand, than that all men should shew kindness and 
humanity to one another and be particularly exact in the observa- 
tion of agreements and compacts : and when men duly attend to and 
obey these laws, they may be said to enjoy peace ; which is a state 
most agreeable to human nature, which tends most to promote its 
happiness and security, and indeed which the law of nature was 
given to men principally to establish and preserve. Nay, further, 
peace is a state proper to human nature, as such ; since it ariseth 
from a principle peculiar to mankind above the brutes ; whereas 
war flows from principles common to both." /;. viii. c. vi. p. 836. 

u Avarice and all extravagant desire of increasing wealth, as also 
ambition, and the hopes of enlarging rule and dominion, of growing 
great, and purchasing a false fame and glory, by the oppression of 
others, are unjust causes of war." (Vide Grotius. lib. ii. c. xxii. s. 5.) 

Puffendorf. Laxv of Nature and Nations, 'with M. Barbeyrac's 
Notes, by Carevp. b. viii. c. vi. p, 839. 

Henceforth be that machiavelian principle, a thing may be po- 
litically right, although morally wrong, execrated by every govern- 
ment; a maxim fit only for an infernal Pandemonium, and Barbary 
and Malay pirates. 

Oh that all possessed of power would reflect upon the desolation 
and misery their mad ambition causes, and the solemn account they 



Chap, I. Of the duty of Watching, 17 

neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the 
things which' God hath prepared, for tliem that love him" 1 Cor. 
ii. §. ' Certain foretastes of that happiness he hath vouchsafed 
for our comfort in this life ; z and in the end a blessed immor- 
tality. This contest is at our utmost peril, and our eternal felicity- 
is at staked And as the highest reward is to be obtained by the 



must render to God ! let them descend from their gilded thrones, 
and view the horrors of the ensanguined field ; the agonies of the 
expiring victims to their vain glory ; the lacerated limbs, the 
widow's tear, the aged parent bereft of the only prop of declining 
years, the tender relation or friend weeping over the mangled corpse, 
and hear the orphan's cries ! But I must restrain these feelings. — 
What is history but a tragedy ? How few benefactors appear on the 
stage ! 

If rulers, deaf to the weeping voice of injured humanity, and 
dazzled by false glory, resolve to pursue their blood-stained career, 
will not self-interest check them ? for let them turn over the page of 
history, trace the decline of empires, and weigh the prophetic words ; 
—yet what occasion to consult antiquity ? the recent events in 
France are sufficient to demonstrate the fatal policy of ambition. 

Oppressed liberty, like an elastic power freed from confinement, 
forcibly rebounds, and knocks ambition and tyranny from their seat. 

1 " When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also 
appear with him in glory." Coloss. iii. 4. c 2 Tim. iv. 8. John viii. 
J5 1 - " And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with 
Christ ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified 
together." Rom. viii. 17. " There remaineth therefore a rest to the 
people of God." Heb. iv. 9. 1 Peter i. 4. " Then shall the King- 
say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inhe- 
rit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." 
Matt. xxv. 34. " Who will render to every man according to his 
deeds." " Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man thai 
doeth evil, of the Jew first and also of the Gentile." Rom. ii. 6» 9. 

* " And we know that all things worlc together for good to them 
that love God." Rom. viii. 28. Ps. xi. 7. 

3 " And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in 
all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown ; but wean 
incorruptible" 1 Cor. ix. 25. 

Ch. Ma. B 



18 The Christian's Manual. 

conquerors, so the greatest punishments will be inflicted upon 
deserters. Heaven is promised to them that " take it by force" 1 
and how must every generous mind be fired with such a hope ? 
especially when it is considered that he who promised can nei- 
ther deceive, nor be deceived, (a) When we reflect, that all 
our actions are known to God, z and the whole company of 



1 " And from the days of John the Baptist until notv the Kingdom 
of Heaven suffer eth violence, and the violent take it by force" Matt, 
xi. 12. Luke xvi. 16. 1 Tim. vi. 19. Heb. x. 19. 

" That is, they who by their continual attendance on the doc- 
trine of it preached to them, their care to understand it, and readi- 
ness to receive it, show their ardent desires to be made partakers of 
it, and do contend for an entrance into it, do by these means pre- 
vail." Whitby Paraphrase and Commentary on the New Testament. 
Matt. xi. 12. p. 106. 

"As the Jews of old through the obedience of their Father Abra- 
ham became the peculiar, the elect, the chosen people of God ; the 
standard of true religion, and of the worship of the one true God 
of the Universe for a testimony against all the idolatrous nations 
of the earth, so Christians now in a more excellent and spiritual 
manner, of which all the Jewish privileges were but types and 
figures, do through the interposition of Christ, and by their em- 
bracing the terms of his everlasting gospel, (Acts iii. 25. Rev. xiv. 6.) 
become the sons of God and children of the covenant." Clarke 
Expos, of the Catech.p. 13. 

2 " Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him ? 
saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth P saith the Lord." 
Jer. xxiii. 24. xvi. 17. " He that planted the ear, shall he not hear ? 
he that formed the eye, shall he not see?" Ps. xciv. 9. Luke xii. 
2.3. Heb. iv. 13. 

" Consideration of God and of the divine presence is a general 
counter-charm against all sin ; for as sin in its formality is an aver- 
sion from God, so the cause of all sin does at last resolve into for- 
getfulness of him and a non-consideration of his presence and in- 
spection. 

(a) Deut. vii. 9. Psalm, lxxxix. 84. 



Chap. I. Of the duty of Watching, 19 

heaven are spectators of this glorious conflict, will not even 
shame prevail upon us to light manfully ? considering that he 
will applaud us, whose praise is our supreme happiness. Why- 
then should we not seek it, even though we purchase it at the 
hazard of our lives, (a) It argues a meanness of spirit not to 
be excited by rewards : the basest of men are roused by fear of 
punishments. Now an enemy, however implacable, can only 
take life and property ; this was the most the fierce Achilles 
could do to Hector. But in the other case, your immortal 
soul is in danger. And though your body will not be dragged 
round your grave, as Hector's was thrice round Troy, yet 
you will be hurled into the lowest pit. 1 It is ordained that 
the body shall die, but the soul cannot die without being infi- 
nitely miserable. With what caution do we avert any injury 

" Why should not God's seeing us have the same influence upon 
us as our seeing God ? 

" In short, notwithstanding the great corruption of our nature 
and our proneness to evil, we need no other guard either against 
sin or against temptation, than these three words well considered : 
God is present. But there is one particular sin to which this consi- 
deration is utterly irreconcilable, and against which it is a peculiar 
antidote, and that is the sin of hypocrisy. 

" And^ now since the spiritual advantages of setting God always 
before us are so great and so many, I think I need use no other 
persuasive to recommend this excellent expedient of holy living to 
our constant practice. Let us then be persuaded to make use of 
it, by setting God always before us, and having him always in our 
thoughts, especially under this threefold consideration, as the su- 
preme good, as a pattern, and as an observer, so shall we have a 
perpetual encouragement to do well, and a sufficient counterpoise 
against all temptations. And God grant we may so set him always 
before us here, that we may not be afraid to appear before him 
hereafter. Amen." Norris " Practical Discourses " vol. ii. p. 1 99. 

1 " And fear not them which kill the bod//, hut are not able to kill 
the sold ; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and 
body in hell:'' Matt. x. 28. 

(a) Matt. x. 38. 2 Tim. ii. 4. 



20 The Christian's Manual. 

from the body, or with what solicitude do we cure it ; and shaft 
we neglect to heal the inward anguish of the soul ? the death 
of the body how alarming, because it is visible ; but the death 
of the soul is invisible, and therefore few dread it ; though the 
death of the one exceeds that of the other, as much as the soul 
is superior to the body, or as God is above the soul of man.(«) 

There are symptoms, by which it may be plainly seen, whe- 
ther the soul is alive, diseased, or dead. When the stomach 
does not digest, but loaths its food, we know that the body is 
out of order. Now the word of God is the meat and drink of 
the soul, (b) which if it disrelishes, and abhors, it is a proof, 
that the palate of the mind is vitiated, and disordered. Nay, if 
it does not receive and digest its food kindly, it cannot be a 
doubt but the soul is sickly. "When we see a man creeping 
and dragging his body like a load too heavy to bear, we know 
that he is very feeble : so we should conclude his soul to be, 
who is cold and indifferent to all the duties of religion, who 
takes fire at the least affront, and is dejected at the loss of a 
little bit of money. When a man has lost the use of his senses, 
and his whole body is stiff, we take it for granted he has ex- 
pired. And when a man's heart is frozen, the eyes of his 
understanding so darkened that he cannot discern the light of 
the clearest truth, the ear of reason deaf to the inward call of 
God's word, and. in short, the whole man become senseless, do 
you believe his soul is alive ? Thus a man can see his brother 
in distress, without the least emotion, for that he is safe himself. 1 

x " And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, 
hehold my mother and my brethren." " For tohosocoer shall do the 
•will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sis* 
ter, and mother." Matt. xii. 49. 50. xxiii.8. " We know that we 
have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren ; he 
that loveth not his brother abideth in death." " Whoso hath this 
world' s good j and seeth his brother have need, and shut teth up his 
bowels of compassion from him, how d.welleth th,e love of God in him?" 
" My little children let us not love in word, neither in tongue y but ii% 

(a) Matt. vi. 25. (b) Matt. jv. 4. John vi. 35. 



Chap. I. Of the duly of Watching. 21 

And why is he not moved ? because the man is dead — dead, 
and forsaken of God ; J for where God is there abides love, since 
God is love, (a) Were it otherwise, were he a living member 
of Christ's body, how could any other member suffer, and he 
not suffer with it, nay not so much as be sensible of it ? To 
proceed to other symptoms, you have cheated your friend, or 
perhaps defiled his bed, 2, yet the soul, though it has received a. 



deed and in truth." " And this is his commandment, that we should 
believe on the name of his son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as 
he gave us commandment. 1 ' 1 John iii. 14. 15. 17. 18. 23. ii. 11, 
iv. 20. 21. 1 Peter iv. 8. 

1 " The Scripture looketh on mankind antecedently to the state 
and life of true and saving religion, not as alive, but as dead, or in 
the state of the dead. So in the oriental philosophy they called 
those men, dead, (Grot. Not. in Matt. viii. 22.) ' that are fallen from 
their dogmata, are become aliens from the discipline of truth and 
virtue, Whence the soul hath her life, and have subjected their 
mind to the animal passions.' 

" As when any one was ejected out of the Pythagoreans' society 
they set up an empty coffin in his place, to signify that he ought to 
be looked upon as dead." Maxwell Introductory Essay, p. cxlix. 
s. 3. to Cumberland's Treatise of the Laws of Nature. Et vide 
Dacier Life of Pythagoras, p. 26. Euseb. Eccles. Histor. lib. iii. 
c. xxiii. 

" As the soul is the life of the body, so the life of the soul is God." 
Prosper, {died An. 466.) 

In the parable of the prodigal son, Christ said, " It was meet that 
we should make merry and be glad : for this thy brother was dead, 
and is alive again; and was lost, and is found." Luke xv. 32. 
And St. Paul observed, " But she that Uveth in pleasure is dead 
while she Uveth." 1 Tim. v. 6. vide Luke, ix. 60. 

a " And the man that committeth adultery with another man's 
wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the 
adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death." Levit. 
xx. 10. Exodus xx. 14. 

The learned Grotius contends that not only murder, but adultery, 

(a) 1 John iv. 7.3. 11. 



22 The Christian's Manual. 

mortal wound, is so far from smarting, that you rejoice in your 



and some other acts, were considered as great crimes, and were 
punished with death prior to the Jewish dispensation, which in 
many respects was no more than a declaration of the moral law, 
binding on all nations. Vide Grotius, Of War and Peace, b. i. c. ii. 
s. v. This conclusion is undeniable, and is supported by God him- 
self, who, after enumerating divers offences, adds, «« And ye shall 
not tvalk in the manners of the nation, ivkich I cast out before you, 
for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them" 
Levit. xx. 23. Vide Gen. xx. 6. 7. xxxviii. 24. Ps. xix. 9. Rom. 
ii. 14. 1 Cor. x. 6. 2 Tim. iii. 16. 2 Peter ii. 5. Jude 7. 

" Fornicators and adulterers shall not inherit the kingdom of God." 
Gal. v. 19-21. Matt. v. 27. 

The Roman law punished adultery with death. Justin. Inst. 
I. iv. tit. xviii. s. iv. More describes the Utopians as punishing the 
crime with bondage for the first offence, and death for the second. 

Our law is insufficient to restrain this heinous crime. Is it not 
the first duty of the legislature to check immorality ? What state 
long flourished with licentiousness ? does not history teach us, that 
depravity, although silently, infallibly undermines the foundation 
of a government ? its gradual approaches are the more dangerous, 
because unperceived. 

It has been observed, " what are laws without manners." I ask, 
what are manners without laws ? 

" In the eye of politics no virtue is small and it cannot safely 
neglect any one." 

"The laws most essential to the safety and happiness of states, 
are those relating to the rectitude of morals. " 

<' It is only by the uniform practice of the domestic virtues, that 
a people can be fitted for the exertion of the public." Phocion 
Convers. ii. 

Should not adultery be declared an offence against public mo- 
rals? What crime is a greater violation of domestic happiness, 
causes more bitter anguish, or is more injurious in its other conse- 
quences ? 

The adulterer and adulteress should be liable to imprisonment 
according to the discretion of the court, not exceeding a limited 
time. 



Chap. I. Of the duty of Watching. 23 

sin; 1 but know that. your soul has perished. The body that 
cannot feel the puncture of a needle, and the soul that is not 
sensible of so deep a gash, are alike dead. You will hear a 
man uttering profane, arrogant, malicious, and unchaste, expres- 
sions, [a) and raving against his neighbour ; (b) in this case you 
must admit, that his soul is departed, 1 — his bosom is the se- 



Is this subject undeserving the noble zeal of a Romilly, and 
Wilberforce ? 

Let society stigmatize the offending parties, instead of palliating 
their guilt, and thereby corrupting others. 

1 " It is an enormous crime to rejoice and continue in sin." 

" Some glory in their shame, counting the stains of sin the best 
complexion for their souls ; these men make one believe it may be 
true what Maundevile writes of the Isle of Somabarre in the East 
Indies, that all the nobility thereof brand their faces with a hot iron 
in token of honor." Fuller Holy State, b.m. c. 3. s.^.p. 147. et 
vide Maundevile Travels, c. xviii. p. 226. 

a " It is enjoined universally ( That nothing be said, though it 
were but in jest, which may diminish the honor of God, or the hap- 
piness of mankind; which we shall observe,' if we do not, by a base 
and wanton satiricalness, expose to contempt and ridicule, the laws 
of religion, nor the rights of nations, nor of particular states, nor of 
smaller societies, or families, or of particular persons. " Cumberland 
of the Moral Virtues in particular, c. 8. s. vi. 

In the higher ranks of life swearing is seldom heard, except in 
the freshman's college room, or from the almost beardless or con- 
ceited officer ; they mistake blasphemy for courage and greatness 
of soul, and profaneness for wit. 

In the lower ranks, it more extensively prevails. 

What impiety, to strengthen their angry and sinful expressions 
by invocating the Omnipotent, and what monstrous folly ! Are 
they ignorant he is omniscient ? What occasion for a particular 
appeal ! At the last awful judgment he will produce the record 
of their guilt, to their eternal shame and conviction : besides M the 
man doth not get credit from an oath, but an oath from the 
man." 

(a) Col. iii. 8. (/;) Ephes. iv. 2. James iv. 11. 



24? TJie Christian's Manual. 

pulchre where it continues as it were to rot, from" whence 
issue those steams that poison each by-stander. Thus Christ 
called the Pharisees whited sepulchres, {a) because their souls 
within were dead, and fit only to be interred. And the royal 
prophet to the same purpose says, " Their throat is an open 
sepulchre, they Jlaiter with their tongue? if) The bodies of 
holy men are the temples of God's spirit, (c) those of the wicked 
are the graves of the dead. And the mouth and throat of such, 
is but the yawning of that sepulchre, which is lodged in their 
bosoms. For if the body be dead, when separated from the 
soul, much more so is the soul when separated from God. A 
corpse is not more offensive to our smell, than the savour of that 
soul is to God and his holy angels, that has been long dead ill 
sins. When therefore a man's heart emits pestilential speeches, 
it betrays a soul in a state of putrefaction. For the Scripture 
saith, from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh ; (d) 
if his soul was quickened by God's presence, he would utter 
things worthy of God. 

There is this further difference between the soul and body, 
that an indisposition in the latter will admit of relief. But it 
must be an extraordinary grace of God that restores a soul once 

The crime should be more frequently denounced from the pulpit, 
and the vigilance of the magistrate roused. 

"Quis non vetat peccare cum potest jubet." 

True religion can never enter the heart defiled with habitual 
cursing — it always proceeds from irreverence, and often from a 
contempt of GocL 

" Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the 
Lord will not hold him puiltiess thai iaketh his name in vain." Exo- 

o 

dus xx. 17. " And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither 
shalt thou profane the name of thy God." Levit. xix. 12. " And he 
that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, 
and all the congregation shall certainly stone him : as well the stranger 
as he that is born in the land when he blasphemeth the name of Hit 
Lord shall be put to death" Levit. xxiv. 16. 

(a) Matt, xxiii. 87. (l>) Ps. v. f>. 

(c) 1 Cor. iii. 16. 17. («Q Matt. xii. 31. 35. 



Chap. I. Of the duty of Watching* 25- 

dead in sin, [a) and a sound state can only be recovered before 
it takes its leave of the body, (b) The death of the body is often 
attended with little or no suffering ; but the soul must suffer to 
all eternity. And though it be dead in a moral or metaphori- 
cal sense, yet in fact it will live to endure hereafter perpetual 
torments. 

Seeing our danger is so great, what stupidity not to pro- 
vide against such evil ? We have no reason to despair. For if 
on the one hand we have a formidable adversary, on the other 
we have a most powerful defence and succour. Many there 
are that fight against us, but God is greater than them all. 
And " if he be for us f who can be against its ? v (c) If he is 
our support, who can make us fall ? But we must be resolved 
to be conquerors. And for our encouragement, let us consider, 
that we have not to engage with a victorious, but a conquered, 
enemy ; one that has been overcome by Christ our chief, and 
whom if we follow, we may overcome, (d) 

Our first care must be to fight under his banner. "We are 
weak of ourselves, but in him we are strong, (e) No one ever 
lost this battle but by his own choice. Every man may have 
assistance, [f) and he that uses it must conquer. The vic- 
tory is to be ascribed to him, who alone. being free from sin, 
destroyed the dominion of it ; but you are not to expect it 
without your own exertions. He said, be of good comfort, 
I have oveixome the world, John xvi. 33. with a design to en- 
courage, and not to make you slothful. To conquer through 
Christ therefore, is to follow his example, (g) We must steer 
our course in such a manner between the two extremes, as not 
to depend upon the grace of God, presuming to be careless 
ourselves, neither to abandon ourselves to despair, from a view 
of the difficulties to be overcome, (h) l 

1 " Patience is that virtue which qualifies us to bear ail conditions 
and all events by God's disposal incident to us, with such appre- 

(a) Rom. i. 28. (b) Eccles. ix. 10. 

(c) Rom. viit. 31. Heb. xiii. 0. Ps. xlvi. 1. (d) 1 John v. 2-5. 

(c) Ps. xxviii. 1. xxvii. 1. 14. (/) Matt. vii. 7. (g) Uohnv. IS.. 
(A) Matt. xvi. 24. 



i 26 The Christian's Manual. 



CHAP. II. 

Of the Christian Armour. 

One principal duty of a Christian in this spiritual warfare, is, 
to be perfectly acquainted with the number and strength of the 
enemy, and with what weapons he may be most advantageously 
attacked and subdued. He is likewise to keep them in readi- 
ness, lest he be surprised in a defenceless state. In a campaign, 
the soldier is not always fighting, but has frequent opportuni- 
ties of rest, either when a truce is made, or the enemy have 
taken up their winter quarters. But Christians are obliged to 
watch and fight continually, during their residence in this mor- 
tal body. Our motions must be directed by those of the foe, 
who, as he never ceases to ensnare, so neither must we cease 
to stand upon our guard. Even when he appears least dan- 
gerous, by seeming to fly, or to be at peace, he is ensnaring us : 
nay, he is much less formidable when at open war, and more 
suspicious when he puts on a smooth behaviour. Let it be our 
first care therefore, to arm well our souls, (a) We defend our 
bodies against the stiletto of a villain, and shall we neglect the 
security of our souls ? shall we be less studious to prevent our 
ruin, than the fiend is to compass it ? less watchful to save, 
than he to destroy ? 



hensions, and persuasions of mind, such dispositions and affections 
of heart, such external deportments and practices of life, as God 
requireth and good reason directeth." Barrow, Of Patience. 

" Other graces are but part of a Christian's armour, but patience 
is a panoply, or whole armour of the man of God. The enemy 
foils us without it, but we foil him by it." Ignatius, St. John's 
Disciple, and Bishop of Antioch, suffered martyrdom An. 107. 

'« Patience and firm belief in God make a man victorious. ,, 

(«)Ephe3. vi. 11. 



Chap. II. Of the Christian Armour. 27 

The Christian armour shall be particularly considered in its 
proper place. Only it is worth notice, that there are two prin- 
cipal means to destroy the whole offspring of vice, and these are 
prayer " and knowledge, {a) Thus St. Paul, by ordering us 
to pray without ceasing, (b) admonishes us to be always upon 
our guard. For devout prayer lifts the soul to heaven, a tower 
never to be scaled by the enemy. And knowledge fortifies the 
understanding with wholesome doctrines, so that the one ought 
never to be without the other. That intercedes, but this teaches 
what you are to intercede for. Faith and hope enable a man to 
pray fervently, and as St. James says, nothing wavering ; (c) 
but knowledge instructs him to pray for what is good, and 
approved by Christ, (d) Even the sons of Zebedee heard this 
reproof, Ye know not what ye ask. (e) Prayer is indeed the 
better act, as holding intercourse with God, nevertheless know- 
ledge is necessary, (f) 

Perhaps you confide in the number of Psalms you mutter, 
and think the spirit of prayer consists in multiplying words ; z 
which is the error of those that stick to the letter, and are so 
childish as to overlook the spiritual meaning. But we have not 
so learned Christ, (g) who says, When ye pray, use not vain 
repetitions, as the heathens do : for they think that they shall 



1 " Prayer is a religious calling upon God, founded upon the 
belief both of his infinite knowledge, power, and presence, and of 
his gracious goodness, and mercy towards us in Jesus Christ, and 
by virtue whereof, he is not only always present with us, to hear 
and receive our prayers, thoroughly acquainted with all our needs, 
and fully able to supply them, but is also most willing and ready 
so to do, if we call on him as we ought to do." Archbp. Wake 
Principles of Christian Religion Explained, p. 126. 

2 Beware of imitating the Scribes, " ivhojbr a sho'vo made long 
j)raj/crs ; the same shall receive greater damnation." Luke xx. 
46.47. 

(a) 2 Peter i. 5. (//) 1 Thes. v. 17. (c) James i. 0. 

(d) Eccles. v. 2. Jamesiv. 3. (e) Matt. xx.20. (/) 1 John v. H. 

(g) Ephes. iv. 20. 



28 The Christian's Manual. 

be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto 
them ; for your Father knoxveth xohat things ye have need of, 
before^ye ask him. [a] Moses did not utter a syllable, yet the 
Lord said to him. Why cry est thou unto me ? (b) which shows 
it is the earnest desire of the soul, not the request of the lips, 
which he regards more than the loudest complaints the voice 
can utter, (c) Therefore when the enemy solicits, and you are 
in danger of relapsing into sin, lift both heart and hands to 
heaven, with full assurance of help. To be employed in the 
duties of devotion, is the surest means to take your mind from 
earthly -pursuits, and to fix its attention on Christ, (d) 

But lest you should despise the assistance of knowledge, and 
depend upon prayer, I would exhort you to the study of the 
Scriptures. There can be no temptation so strong, or foe so 
desperate, or misfortune so grievous, but may be subdued by 
study of the holy Scriptures. 1 They are every where admirable 
and worthy your most diligent examination, (e) 

It is usual with the holy Spirit under the idea of water, to 
couch the knowledge of the divine law. (f) The names of 
wellsy fountains, and rivers, perpetually occur, by which we 
are taught to imbibe, and inwardly digest the holy Scriptures. 
When religious knowledge diffuses itself every where, for the 
edification of the brethren, it may be compared to the fruitful- 
ness and overflowing of a river. Be therefore but thoroughly 
acquainted with the holy Scriptures, meditate on the law of the 

1 " Every disease of the soul has a peculiar medicine in Scrip- 
ture: this only is required, that the sick man take the potion which 
God has already tempered." Austin. 

Philip de Commines said, " if men considered the Scriptures they 
would reform.' ' (died An. 1509.) 

tk In the heat and tumult of business reason hath not power to 
give conduct to active life — man having but an imperfect under- 
standing without meditation," Bidstrode Essays, p. 88. 

(a) Matt. vi. 7. 8. (b) Exodus xiv. fS. (c) John iv. «4. 

(d) Pialm cxix. 15. ' (e) Ps. xix. 7. 2 Tim. lii. 1(5. 17. Rom. xv. 4. 
(/') Isai lv. John iv, 13. 



Chap. II. Of the Christian Armour. 29 

Lord day and night, and you will not be afraid of any terror, 
but be proof against all the assaults of the enemy, [a) 

But in reading the holy Scriptures, there is this caution to be 
observed, namely, that you do not take them in hand without 
the greatest purity of intention, (b) lest the remedy should, by 
your fault, become worse than the disease ; I and that heavenly 
Manna (c) should corrupt, which it behoved you to digest and 
receive into your heart ; and thus, like Uzza, 1 Chron. xiii. 10. 
who put forth his unhallowed hands to hold the tottering ark, 
your officious zeal, being not first duly prepared, may be punish- 
ed with sudden death. Highly esteem the holy Scriptures* 
believing them to be the oracles of God. You will find yosr- 
self wonderfully pleased if you approach them with suitable 
awe and reverence/ for they are the delights of the happy 



1 <s We ought to bring our minds free, unbiassed, and teachable, 
to learn our religion from the word of God ; but we have generally 
formed all the lesser as well as the greater points of our relip-ioil 
before hand, and then we read the Prophets and, Apostles only. tq 
pervert therm to confirm our own opinions. Were it not for this 
influence of self, and the bigotry to our own tenets, we could hardly 
imagine that so many strange, absurd, inconsistent, wicked, mis- 
chievous, and bloody, principles should pretend to support and 
defend themselves by the gospel of Christ." Watts, Logic, part 2. 
c.3. s.3. p. 158. 

"Search with a, steady honesty of soul and -a sincere impartiality 
to find the truth, watch against every temptation that might bribe 
your judgment or warp it aside from truth. Do not indulge your- 
self to wish any unexamined proposition were . true or false. A 
wish often perverts the judgment and tempts the mind strangely 
to believe upon slight evidence whatever we wish to be true or 
false." lb. part 2. c.6. s. \.p. 184. 

" What is there that can so enlarge, improve, and delight, the 
human mind as contemplation of the truth and dispensations of the 
Almighty ? Where is the pleasure that can stand in comparison 

(a) Job xxii. 21. Prov. iv. 26. J Tim. iv. 15. 
(6) 1 Peter ii. 2. (c) John vi. 31. 



30 The Christian's Manual. 

lover, the riches of the great Solomon, the hidden treasures of 
infinite wisdom, (a) Be not abrupt and unmannerly in your 
approaches, for the gate is low, and will not admit of a hasty, 
careless, entrance. Be assured that nothing is more true than 
what you read therein. (Z>) Men may impose upon themselves 
or others, but Christ is " the way, the truth, and the life" (c) 

The Scripture has a style and language which should dili- 
gently be considered. The divine wisdom stoops to the level 
of our capacities, as a fond mother lisps to her children. It ten- 
ders milk to babes in Christ, (d) strong meat to the adult. It 
condescends to our weakness, and we should rise to its sublimity. 
It would be absurd to be always a child, and idle to make no 
proficiency, (e) Now the meditating upon, and understanding 
of, one verse, will profit more than the being able to repeat the 
whole book of Psalms, but without knowing the meaning of one 
word. It is a very great error that some men fall into, who 
think it sufficient to read or repeat such a portion of Scripture, 
the literal sense of which they scarce understand, and neglect 
to discover and apply the spiritual meaning, which is one great 
cause of the decay of Christian piety. St. Paul says, the letter 
killeth, but the spirit giveth life, (f) Again, We know that 
the law is spiritual, (g) And spiritual things must be compared 
with spiritual, (h) Formerly they worshipped on such a moun- 
tain, (z) but now the Father of spirits must be worshipped " in 

for a moment ? I know of none that is not as much inferior as 
earth is to heaven." Home, Discourse 73. p. 390. 

The good Sir William Jones thus expressed his sentiments : " I 
have regularly and attentively read the Holy Scriptures, and am of 
opinion that this volume, independently of its divine origin, con- 
tains more sublimity and beauty, more pure morality, more im- 
portant history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than can 
be collected from all books in whatever language they may have 
been composed. " 

(a) Prov. xvi. 16. iii. iv. Ps. cxix. 14. (b) Heb. xi. 6. 

(c)Johnxiv.6. (d) 1 Gor. iii. 1. 2. (e) Heb. v. 13. 14. lCor.xiv.20. 
(/) 2 Cor. iii. G. (g) Rom. vii. 14. (//) 1 Cor. ii. 13. 

(0 John iv. 20. 



Chap. II. Of the Christian Armour. 31 

spirit and in truth" (a) We must quit the literal for the mo- 
ral meaning, (b) 

Other books have their use, if a man, like the bee, can sip of 
every flower, sucking out the wholesome juices, but leaving the 
poison ; and by that means fortify his soul upon every occasion. 
Some are stored with proper arguments, and are Christian so 
far as they are true. Yet the only impenetrable armour is to 
be had in the magazine of Scripture ; wherein all kinds of wea- 
pons are laid up. 1 These are arms unknown to the heroes of 



" Men's books with heaps of chaff are stor'd, 

God's Book doth golden grains afford ; 

Then leave the chaff and spend thy pains 

In gathering up the golden grains." 

Bernard, died An. 1 1 53. 
Many books are not only filled with much chaff, but also with 
great errors in religion and morality. 

Johnson, in his Life of Milton, p. 1 37. says, (t The knowledge of 
external nature, and the sciences which that knowledge requires, or 
includes, are not the great or the frequent business of the human 
mind. Whether we provide for action or conversation, whether 
we wish to be useful or pleasing, the first requisite is the religious 
and moral knowledge of right and wrong." 

Baker, in his " Reflections upon Learning," well handles this sub- 
ject. After discoursing^ upon the uncertainty or inutility of the 
several sorts of learning, he makes this admirable conclusion : 
<« Learning is of good use in explaining the word of God, and the 
word serves very well to lessen our opinion of human learning ; 
the former may be serviceable whilst it acts ministerially, and in 
subservience to the latter, but being only a handmaid to religion, 
whenever it usurps upon that it is to be kept down and taught its 
duty ; it is still only human learning, that is very weak, and very 
defective, and after all the great things that can be said of it, and 
the uses that may be assigned it, it must be confessed that our 
Bible is our best book, and the only booh that can afford any true 
and solid satisjaction ; it is that which satisfies and never satiates." 
p. 28S. 

0) John iv. 24. (b) 1 Peter iii. 15. 



3 l i The Christian's Manual. 

antiquity, who, though they subdued others, were subdued by 
their own lusts. 

And did not Christ our head vanquish the Tempter by the 
same means, namely, by answering him out of Scripture, as 
a spiritual storehouse ? (a) Hear a perfect description of the 
Christian's armour: "the weapons of our warfare are not 
carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong- 
holds.; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that 
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into 
captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (b) Again, St. 
Paul speaks of " the whole armour of God, that ye may be able 
to withstand in the evil day, and having done' all to stand. 
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and 
having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod 
with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking 
the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the 
jieiy darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and 
the sword of the spirit, which is the word, of God," Eph. vi. 
13-17. A man thus armed may boldly exclaim with St. Paul 



" The sum of all is this, we busy ourselves in the search of know- 
ledge, we tire out our thoughts and waste our spirits in this pursuit, 
and afterwards flatter ourselves with mighty acquirements and fill 
the world with volumes of our discoveries: whereas would we 
take -(as much pains in discovering our weakness and defects as 
we spend time in ostentation of our knowledge, w r e might with 
half the time and pains see enough to show us our ignorance and 
might thereby learri truer wisdom.'* Jkl 290. 

" After all true wisdom and satisfactory knowledge is only to be 
had from Revelation, and as to other truths which are to be collected 
from sense and reason our ignorance of them will always be so 
much greater than our knowledge as there are a thousand things 
we are ignorant of to one thing that we thoroughly know." p, 292. 

u Religion should ' be the thing aimed at in all our endeavours, 
and the end of all our instructions." Ratlin Belles Lett res Vol. i. 
p. 26. 

(a) Matt. iv. 4. Q) 2 Cor. x. 4. 5. 



Chap. II. Of the Christian Armour. 33 

in that noble challenge, Horn. viii. $5. Who shall separate us 
from the love of Christ ? shall tribulation, or distress, or per- 
secution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? These 
are dreadful enemies, in the opinion of the generality of 
mankind, which Paul defies •, but what follows is yet more 
noble : nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors^ 
through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither 
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
things present, nor things to come : nor height, nor depth, nor 
any oilier creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of 
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. "With what courage 
and confidence is Paul inspired by putting on the armour 
of light, who elsewhere calls himself the off-scouring of all 
things? (a) Such strength and boldness nothing but the holy 
Scriptures can bestow, so that he who is daily conversant in 
them, will have no occasion for our further instruction. But 
I would recommend this manual to the Christian reader, as a 
sort of dagger, which wherever he is, he may carry ; so that he 
need not be exposed to the attacks of the subtle enemy, unarmed, 
for want of a weapon that may be useful, and portable. For 
though it be little, yet if joined with the shield of Faith, you 
may withstand any sudden onset, and ward off a mortal blow. 
But it is time to teach you the use of it, which when you have 
diligently learned, may the great Captain of our salvation {b) con- 
duct you to victory ; in the mean time, remember your safety 
depends upon obedience to your Chief, and a brave resistance 
to the enemy. 

(«) 1 Cor. iv. 13. (b) Heb. ii. JO. 



Ch. Ma. 



oi The Christian's Manual, 



chap. in. 

Of the Knowledge of one's self: and the two kinds of 
Wisdom, true and false. 

Happiness, though of a false kind, is the point which worldly- 
men aim at in all their actions. The ancient philosophers like- 
wise promised it, though in vain, * to their followers ; since 
Christ alone can give that which the world could not give, 
John xiv. 27. And there is but one Way to obtain this blessing, 
namely, by warring with our inclinations, and subduing our 
vicious appetites. For God, who is our peace, bears an 
irreconcileable hatred to those enemies, himself being all perfec- 
tion, and the source of perfections in us. The Stoics, whose 
zeal for virtue was the most distinguished, branded with the 
name of foolishness every sinful pollution, the same that in 
Scripture is called wickedness. a They agree in bestowing the 
name of wisdom on perfect goodness. The author and pro- 
moter of all wickedness is Belial, («) 3 the prince of darkness, and 
whosoever after his example walketh in darkness, shall be over- 
whelmed in eternal night. On the contrary, Christ is the true light 
(b) that disperseth the mists of worldly wisdom j the brightness 
of his Father's glory, even the justification and redemption of those 
who are regenerate, and he is wisdom itself. We preachy says 

1 " The philosophers were in error, for he only is a happy man 
whose happiness is in God." 

z And Pythagoras observed, " To be overcome with affections 
is a plain and evident token of foolishness ;" (born 590 B. C. died 
497.) 

3 Belial the name of an idol of the Sidonians, which St Paul 
gives Satan. The Chaldeans expound it, as signifying malignity. 

(«) Deut. xui. 13. 2 Cor. vi. 15. . (6) Tohn i. 9. 



Chap. III. Of Self-Knowledge. 35 

St. Paul, Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and 
unto the Greeks foolishness ; but unto them which are called, 
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of 
God. (a) If we follow his example, we shall also subdue wicked- 
ness, which is our greatest enemy, and be both wise and victori- 
ous in him our commander. 

This is the wisdom (so contrary to that of the world, which 
fools admire) you ought to pursue ; for worldly wisdom is 
arrant folly, which must be put away by him, who would be 
truly wise. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this 
world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the 
wisdom of this world, is foolishness with God. (b) And a little 
before, (c) it is written, 1 will destroy the wisdom of the 
wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 
Where is the wise ? where is the scribe P where is the disputer 
of this world ? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this 
world ? I doubt not but there will be many fools, and blind 
leaders of the blind, (d) that will zealously oppose you, and call 
you madman, and fool, in this your intended desertion to the 
side of Christ, (e) These are nominal Christians, mere opposers, 
and scorners of the christian institution. " Be not moved by 
their insolence ; (J ) their wretched blindness is more to be 
pitied, than followed. z For what an absurd wisdom must that 

1 Tertullian declares " That when men depart from the discip- 
line of the gospel they cease amongst Us to be called Christians. " 
Apol. c. 46. p. 36. Ad Nation, lid. i. c. 5. p. 43. (An. 198.) 

And Justin Martyr says " Do any live otherwise than Christ 
hath commanded, it is a most certain argument they are no chris- 
tians, though with their tongues they so smoothly profess the chris- 
tian doctrine ; for it is not mere professors, but those who live 
according to their profession, that shall be saved." Ap. 2. p. 63. 

"Exclaim " depart from me ye evildoers; for I will keep the 
commandments of my God. Uphold me (0 Lord) according unto 
thy xvord, that I may live : and let me not be ashamed of my hope." 
Ps. cxix. 115. 116. 

(«) Cor. i. 23—25. (b) 1 Co r. iii. 18, 19. (c) 1 Cor. i. 19, 20. 
(rf) Matt. xv. 14- (e) 2 Tim. iii. 12. (f) Mark viii. 38. 



36 Tfie Christian's Manual. 

be, that is skilful in trifles, yea in baseness; but where salvation 
is concerned, has little more understanding than a mule ? St. 
Paul's advice is, to be " wise unto that 'which is good, and simple 
concerning evil." (a) They, on the contrary, are wise to do evil, 
but ignorant to do good. 

The Greek poet Hesiod observes, that a man must be good 
for nothing, that is neither capable of giving, or receiving salu- 
tary advice : what opinion then must we entertain of such, as 
are not only extremely foolish, but deride and put a stumbling- 
block in the way of others, that are desirous of becoming wise 
unto salvation ? But shall they not be punished ? He that sit- 
teth in the heavens shall laugh : the Lord shall have them in 
derision, (b) To be laughed at by wicked men, is a species of 
commendation ; (c) and it is a religious duty to suffer in this 
respect, after the example of Christ and his Apostles : (d) but 
it is a most horrible thing to be rejected by God. « I also will 
laugh at your calamity ,• I will mock when your fear cometh." (e) 

This carnal wisdom is, as St. James observes, earthly ', sensual, 
devilish, (/) because it is attended with arrogance, which causes 
blindness, and blindness inflames the passions, and obedience 
to the passions is productive of licentiousness, and every vice, 
and licentiousness grows to a habit, and a habit of sin produces 
a reprobate mind, that is callous, and past feeling, (g) which 
ends in the destruction of body and soul. 

Such is the wisdom of this world, such its dismal coase- 
quences. — The true wisdom, which the world calls folly, is thus 
described ; « the fear cf the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ; 
a good understanding have all they that do his commandments? 
(h) Modesty and meekness are her companions. Meekness 
qualifies us to receive the holy spirit, for he delighteth to abide 
with the lowly and meek, (i) And when our minds are impress- 
ed with this, we are enriched with virtue, and its blessed 



(a) Rom. xvi. 19. (b) Psalm ii. 4. (c) Luke vi. 26. 

((/) 1 Peter ii. 10—21. (e) Prov. i. 26. (/) James iii. 15. 
(g) Epheo. iv. 10. (A) Psalm cxi. 10. 

(i) James iii. 13. Psalm xxv, 9. 



Chap. III. Of Self-Knowledge. 37 

fruits ; the chief whereof is that inward and spiritual joy, 
which the world can neither give nor take away, [a) and can 
only be exceeded in the world to come. That, brethren, is the 
wisdom which we ought earnestly to pray for, and to search 
as for hidden treasures in the mines of holy scripture. 

To know one's self, is a principal part of wisdom, {b) and was 
thought by antiquity to be a rule sent from heaven ; many 
illustrious authors have considered it the compendium of wis- 
dom : but among christians is of no farther weight, than as it 
accords with the sacred writings. * No man should rashly assert 
that he knows himself ; for scarce does any know the constitu- 
tion of his body, much less the complexion and disposition of his 
soul, (c) He is a bad soldier, who knows neither his own 
strength, or that of the enemy. Now man is at war with himself, 
for in his own breast there arises a troop in array against him. (d) 
And, without due care, he is in danger of confounding friend 
and foe, and of treating them accordingly. Therefore as 
you have undertaken to fight against yourself, and there is no 
prospect of victory, but by a distinct self-knowledge \ z I will 

1 " There is nothing so difficult as to know ourselves : for we are so 
blinded with self-love that we flatter ourselves in many things." 
" To know thyself is very difficult, for as the eye can see all things 
but itself, so some can discern all faults but their own." Basil. (An. 
D. 370.) 

" The proper science, and subject for Man's' contemplation, 
is Man himself. Look at home then for shame ; turn thine eyes 
inward, and employ thy senses there. Call back thy wandering 
mind, thy understanding, and thy will, which rove and spend their 
strength unprofitably abroad, and fix them in the consideration of 
themselves. The knowledge of a man's self is a step to the know- 
ledge of God : it raises our minds to Heaven. You must know 
yourself before you can mend yourself; the first step to health, and 
recovery, is the being sensible that you need a cure." 

2 " Let therefore every one in order to the right knowledge of 
himself, his duty and happiness, and that he may the more effectually 

(a) John xiv. 27. (b) 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Gal. vi. 3. (c) Psalm xix. 12, 
(U) Horn. vii. 21.-23. 



38 The Christian's Manual. 

proceed to draw your portrait, that you may contemplate and 
know yourself. 



CHAP. TV. 

Of the outer and inner Man. 

JVIan is a prodigious compound of two or three distinct parts, 
resembling a God in his interior, a brute in his exterior. And 
he is so far from having the advantage of brutes in bodily per- 
fections, that he falls far short of them in all respects. But 
with regard to his mind, he may vie even with angels, and be 
united to God. (a) Without a body, we had been Gods ; with- 
out a soul, beasts. " These two natures, so contrary to each other, 



be engaged in practice, thus seriously reflect and inquire concerning 
himself. 

" 1st. What am I ?— 2. How came I to be what I am ?— 3. For 
what end was I made, and have I my being ? — 4. What ought I 
immediately to do, and be, in order to answer the end of my being ? 
5. Whether am I, what I ought to be ? if not. — 6. What must I 
perform, as a means in order to be, and do, what I ought, and in 
order finally to answer the end of my being? — The three first 
of these inquiries will discover the truths, and the three last, the 
duties, that we are concerned to know and do, in order to our 
true happiness : and the truths are the speculative, as the duties are 
the practical part of moral philosophy." Johnson Elements of Moral 
Philosophy — Introduction p. cl. 

1 " Our bodies do not constitute our being ; nor when I discourse 
with you, is it to your body I address myself, but to your soul ; for, 

(a) Gen. ii. 7. Psalm viii. 5. 



Chap. IV. Of the outer and inner Menu 39 

God had happily united ; but the serpent, the enemy of peace, 
divided them ; thus there is a contention between them, who 
were one, but now are two opposite parties, (a) For the body 
being visible, mortal, and material, delights in things like itself, 
and pursues nothing but the gross and fleeting objects of 
sense. The mind, on the contrary, looks up attentively to its 
celestial origin, struggles with this veil of flesh, and knowing the 
vanity of the things seen, (b) dwells on substantial, eternal 
delights. Being immortal, it affects immortality \ heavenly, it 
longeth for heaven. — It pursues objects of the same nature with 
itself, if it be not degenerate, and infected by its commerce with 
the body. Now this was not the original constitution of our 
nature, [c) but the effects of sin, which, corrupting what was 
created pure, sowed in us the seeds of discord. 

At first the soul gave command to the body, which readily 
obeyed her dictates \ but by a strange perversion of order, the 
corporeal affections give law to reason, and she is induced to 
comply with their motions. The mind, therefore, may be com- 
pared to a seditious state, which, being composed of divers orders 
of men, must, on account of their different interests and incli- 
nations, be distracted with divisions and commotions, except 
there be some one in the highest authority, able and willing to 
consult for the good of the whole. Now who should control, 
but the wisest ; who obey, but the simplest ? And what can 
be more stupid than the multitude, who should be governed, 
rather than be put into the magistracy ? The Nobles and 
Elders indeed ought to be consulted. And the King is to 
submit to law, which corresponds with right reason. But if it 
should happen, though never so preposterously, that the sediti- 
ous multitude should set themselves above the nobility and 
elders, and bid defiance to their king, there then would arise a 



in fact, the body is no more than the vehicle and receptacle of the 
soul, and the actions of the latter only, can properly be called the 
actions of the man." 

(a) Matt. xxvi. 41. (6) 2 Cor. iv. 18. (c) Eccles. vii. 29. 



40 The Christian's Manual. 

most dangerous tumult in the body politic, which would end 
in its ruin, without the interposition of divine providence for 
its protection. 

Now reason is sole monarch in this little world of man. And 
his nobles and ciders are certain affections of the body, which 
though corporeal, are not brutal. In this rank we may place 
natural affection to our parents, love of our brethren, good-will 
to our friends, pity for the distressed, fear of shame, regard to 
character ; and such like. 

But those passions, which are the least subject to reason, 
and degrade our natures below the very beasts, may be esteem- 
ed the dregs of the people ; such as are lust, luxury, envy, and 
the like diseases of the mind ; which, like base and worthless 
slaves, should be all confined, as it were in a prison, under the 
custody of reason. 

The enlightened Plato was not insensible that the happiness 
of life consisted in the conquest of the passions : * for he 
observes that they who get the mastery over them, will lead 
good lives ; on the contrary, they must live ill, who are under 
their influence. And he considers the rational soul, as station- 
ed in the brain, like a king residing in his castle ; that being 
the most exalted part of the body, and nearest heaven ; guarded 
within and without by the senses, as so many sentinels, to 
report the least stir or commotion in our republic. 

But the parts, or affections of the irrational soul, were remov- 
ed to a greater, or less distance from the other, in proportion 
as they were more or less obedient to reason. 

So that man is a God above, and below a beast. Notwith- 
standing which, the majesty of reason, sitting en a throne, and 
providing for the general good, remembers its noble origin, and 
stoops not to base and vulgar sentiments ; but adorned with an 
ivory sceptre, fit emblem of rectitude, upon the top whereof 
percheth an eagle, she towereth above the clouds, and looks 
with scorn on all things below. 



1 « It is the bravest and most glorious conquest in the world." 
Plato de Legibus lib, 8. 



Chap. V. Of the passions of Men. * 41 

Lastly, she wears a gold crown ; for gold, in a mystical sense, 
denotes wisdom, and a circle, perfection. Now these are the 
peculiar properties of a king. First, he ought to be wise, lest 
he err through ignorance ; next, he should resolve to do what 
he thinks right. 



CHAP, V. 

Of the different passions and inclinations of Men. 

However the eternal law written in the heart by the finger 
of God, (a) may be oppressed, it will always remonstrate against 
any violation thereof. ■ And if men would but hear its voice, 



1 * Right reason, or that which is agreeable to nature, is invariable, 
eternal, it expressly commands our duty, and strictly forbids all 
treachery ; nothing can supersede this law ; nothing diminish or 
make it void. 

" The power of the mind, which incites to good actions, and dis- 
suades from evil ones, is not only more ancient than the origin of 
nations, but coeval with God, who beholds and governs both hea- 
ven and earth ; for it is impossible that the divine mind should 
exist without reason ; and divine reason must necessarily be possess- 
ed of a power to determine what is virtuous and vicious." Cicero. 
Jragm. Lib. 3. de repub. 

" It is neither in the power of the Senate, or people to dispense 
with it ; it is universally binding. "vVhoever acts contrary to this 
law, opposes his own interest, and spurns the true dignity of man. 
The punishmemts they undergo are not so much those inflicted by 

(a) Romans ii. 14—16. 



42 The Christian's Manual. 

it would never advise any thing that they need be ashamed 
of ; on the contrary, life would be ordered with the greatest 
moderation and happiness. The Stoics, and Peripatetics 
differ in their doctrine of the passions, but agree that 
we are to follow reason, not inclination. The former assert, 
that when by means of the passions, which are immediately 
excited by the senses, we have arrived at the true knowledge of 
good and evil, then they are to be laid aside, as not only use- 
less, but prejudicial in the pursuit of wisdom. 

And accordingly, they say, that a perfectly wise man must 
be free from all perturbations, which they consider as so many 
diseases of the mind : and they will scarcely give him leave 
to have natural emotions, which they call fancies or imagina- 
tions. ■ The latter are not for extirpating the affections, but 



Courts of Justice, as what they suffer from conscience ; their consci- 
ous hearts fill them with terror." Ibid, de Leg. i. 14. 

This is that law of nature,- to which " all men every where agree 
as much as animals do in the motion of the heart, and pulse of the 
arteries ; or all men in their opinion of the whiteness of snow, and the 
brightness of the sun." — Cumberland " Of Natural Good" c. 3. s. Hi. 

" When I say nature, I mean God who is the author of nature." 
Ckrys. De Diis. lib. 3. 

By following nature, the philosophers likewise meant the dictates 
of reason and virtue, agreeable to the highest perfection of their 
intellectual capacities. 

" The conscience of man is in himself a secret knowledge, a 
testimony or witness, an accuser, and inward troubler, or tormentor. 
It is also a satisfier, or joyful quieter of the mind of man in all his 
doings." — Antisthenes. (420. B. C.) 

" It is to himself, as a thousand witnesses." — Socrates. 

" Keep thy conscience pure and unde filed, and strive not against 
the rule of it." — Phocion. 

u Virtue is a disposition, or act of the mind, agreeable to reason, 
and the moderation of nature/' — Alex. Sev. (222. A. D.) 

"Only virtue attains everlasting blessedness." — Aristotle (died 
323. B. C.) 

1 The Stoic philosophy founded on self-sufficiency, was chiefly 



Chap. V. Of the passions of Men. 4$ 

only subduing them ; they being implanted by nature, as 
motives to virtue ; Socrates, l whose opinion was, that philoso- 
phy is only the attentive consideration of death, * by which he 
meant that the mind should be taken as much as possible from 
sensible and corporeal objects, and fixed on such as are known 
by reason, not by sense, seems thus far to be of the same 
opinion, as the Stoics. — A man should therefore in the first 



an ostentation of wisdom, and at variance with our condition — 
Christianity mercifully condescends to our weakness. 

1 Socrates was the most enlightened* consistent, and beneficent 
of the heathen philosophers. When maliciously arraigned for 
corrupting the Athenian youth, and despising their Gods, consci- 
ous of the justice of his cause, instead of supplicating mercy, he 
said " Pass what sentence you please, I can neither repent, or change 
my conduct — I must not abandon, or suspend a function, which 
God himself has imposed on me — Now he has charged me with 
the care of instructing my fellow citizens. 

" Should you acquit me, I shall honor and love you, but I shall 
choose to obey God rather than you, and to my latest breath shall 
never renounce my philosophy, nor cease to exhort and reprove 
you ; saying, are you not ashamed of having no other thought 
than that of amassing wealth, and acquiring glory, credit, and 
dignities, whilst you neglect the treasure of prudence, truth, and 
wisdom, and take no pains in rendering your soul as good and 
perfect as it is capable of being ? — You may kill, but you cannot 
hurt me.'* 

When Crito, his disciple, asked how he wished to be buried, he 
replied, " as you please, if you can lay hold of me :" and smiling 
said to his friends, " I can never persuade Crito, that Socrates is he 
who converses with you, for he imagines I am, what he is going to 
see dead in a little time ; he confounds me, with my body, and 
therefore enquires how I would be interred." — Born. 469. B. C. put 
to death 400." — Vide Plato in Apol. Socrat, 

% And Cicero remarks, " call the soul home, oblige it to dwell 
within itself, and draw it far from the body. Now to abstract 
the soul from the body, is nothing else than to exercise dying."-— 
Tusc. lib. 1. c. xxxi. 



44 The Christian's Manual. 

place study his inclinations, and know them. In the neift, he 
may assure himself, there are none so violent, but they may be 
calmed by reason, and brought over to the side of virtue. ■ 

"Who has not many vices to struggle with ? Where the 
greatest danger is, there must we watch with most circumspec- 
tion. 

If a man be of a warm temper, let him curb his passion, and 
he will become alert, active, free from artifice and disguise. 
Is he parsimonious ? let him apply his reason, and he will make 
a frugal, honest man. Is he a flatterer ? he can be affable and 
courteous. Obstinate ? and he may be consistent. Morose ? 
and he should become only serious. Trifling ? and he will be 
easily governed. Thus may every failing be converted into a 
perfection. Great care is to be taken, that we do not palliate our 
vices with the name of virtues ; as if we should call sullenness, 
gravity ; moroseness, seriousness ; envy, zeal j meanness, fruga- 
lity ; flattery, courteousness ; and scoffing, wit. 

The only way to happiness is, first to know yourself; and 
secondly, not to be led by your passions, * but to hearken to 
the voice of reason in all your undertakings. By reason, I 
mean right reason, that which inspires good and salutary coun- 
sels. It may be objected, that this advice is hard to practise : 
It is so. And it is an adage, that what is valuable, is not won 
with ease. It is a bold task to attempt the conquest of one's 
self, but the reward is more than equal to the task, 3 It is well 



1 " Ethics is the art of living happily by the right knowledge 
of ourselves, and the practice of virtue; our happiness being the 
end, and knowledge and virtue the means to that end." — Johnson 
Introd. to Ethics p. cxl. 

2 '« Passion is a violent motion of the soul in that which is 
distinguished by the name of its sensitive part. And the cause, and 
tendency of this motion is, either to pursue what the soul appre- 
hends to be good ; or to fly from what it apprehends to be evil/' — 

3 '* It is the greatest slavery in the world to be subject to one's 
passions." — Justin Martyr. (A. D. 155.) 



Chap. V. Of the passions of Men. 45 

said by Jerome, " that one cannot be happier than a Christian, 
seeing he has the promise of the kingdom of heaven. One 
cannot be in greater danger, seeing his salvation is at stake. 
One cannot be stronger, seeing he conquereth the devil." It 
is most difficult, if you weigh your own strength, to subdue 
the flesh ; but if you look to the assistance of God, nothing is 
easier, [a) Resolve upon a life cf Christian perfection, and 
undauntedly persist therein ; what at first seems impossible, 
by perseverance will become easy. The path to virtue, at first 
is laborious •, but when one is arrived at the summit, our toil is 
recompensed with delight. 

There is no animal so'fierce, but may be tamed by the art of 
man ; and shall the soul, by which all other things are sub- 
dued,, be itself wild and uncultivated ? How many lead an 
abstemious life by the advice of a physician, to enjoy a tolerable 
share of health ; why then to obtain happiness, will they not set 
bounds to their passions, in obedience to the will of their 
Creator ? You will do any thing to cure your body of a dis- 
temper ; why not do as much to deliver your soul from eternal 
death ? ■ 



" He aims at power of the noblest kind, 
Who tames the stubborn passions of his mind, 
And reigns the monarch of his own desires. " — Boetius. 
1 " As much as the soul is better than the body ; so much more 
grievous are the diseases of the soul than those of the body." 

(a) Luke xi. 9. 



46 The Christian's Manual. 



CHAP. VI. 

Of the inner Man, and the Scripture account of both 
parts of him, 

I am ashamed of the generality of men professing themselves 
Christians, who serve their appetites like beasts, and are so far 
from masters in the art of spiritual warfare, that they do not 
distinguish between reason and inclination. They think that to 
be men, it is sufficient to see and feel. They fancy nothing 
exists, but what falls within the notice of their senses. What- 
ever they earnestly wish for, they think right. A ready com- 
pliance with their passions, they call peace •, though it is the 
greatest slavery, to submit the light of reason to the blind 
direction of their inclinations. This is that woeful peace, which 
Christ the true peace-maker came to destroy ; kindly setting at 
variance the father with the son, the husband with the wife, 
and dissolving all alliances, that spring from a bad principle, (a) 
But philosophy apart ; let us consult the scriptures, and see 
if they do not declare the same thing in other words. What 
the philosophers call reason, St. Paul calls, sometimes the 
spirit, the inner man, and the law of the mind. The same 
that they term passion, is what he means by the several 
expressions of the flesh, the body, the outer man, and the law 
of the members. Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the 
lust qfthejlesh. For the Jlesh lusteth against the spirit, and the 
spirit against the Jlesh, and these are contrary the one to the 
other : so that ye cannot do the things that ye would, (b) And 
in another place he writes, / keep under my body and bring it 
into subjection,(c) * Again, / see another law in my members, 



1 " As death kills the body, so love of eternal life kills worldly 
desires." 

(a) Matt. x. 34—39. (6) Gal. v. 16—17. (c) 1 Cor. ix. 27. 



Chap. VI. Of the inner Man. 47 

warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into 
captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members, (a) You 
read also of the outer man which is corrupt, and of the inner 
man which is daily renewed, (b) 

What St. Paul calls the flesh and the outer man, which is, 
corrupt, he elsewhere calls the earthy Adam, (c) This likewise is 
that body of death with which he was afflicted, and exclaimed, 
O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body 
of this death? (d) 

Speaking in another place of the contrary fruits of the flesh ^ 
and spirit, St. Paul says, He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the 
flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the spirit, shall of 
the spirit reap life everlasting, (e) 

When we are tempted by our lusts, we are taught to pray 
without ceasing, (f) for the divine blessing and assistance. When 
your mind is tossed by the storm of different passions, use 
your best endeavours to calm them. Labor and perseverance 
overcome all difficulties. The passions and inclinations of fools 
drive them alternately to the various excesses of brutish lust, 
fierce anger, poisoned envy, and every other the most prodi- 
gious vice ! 

When you have chastised, and crucified the affections and 
lusts, then you may, uninterrupted, converse with God, and 
taste that the Lord is gracious, (g) After you have endured the 
fury and trial of the devil, there follows a still small voice (h) 
of spiritual consolation. Examine well yourself. For if ye 
live after the flesh, ye shall die : but if ye through the spirit 
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live, [i) Well there- 
fore does it behove you to be in the spirit, (k) 



(a) Rom. vii. 23. (b) Ephes. iv. 22. 2 Cor. iv. 10. 

(c) 1 Cor. xv. 45—50. (d) Rom. vii. 24. (e) Gal. vi. 8. 

(/) 1 Tliess. v. 17. (g) 1 Peter ii. 3. (h) 1 Kings xix. 11—13. 

© Hum. viii. 13. (fc) Gal. vi. 7—8. 



4S The Christian's Manual. 



chap. VII. 

Of the Spirit, Soul, and Body : or, the three constituent 
parts of Man. 

Ihat you may know yourself more accurately, I shall add a 
brief account of the division of man, according to Origen ; 
who, after the example of St. Paul, lays down three several 
parts, the spirit, the soul, and the body ; all which St. Paul joins 
in his first epistle to the Thessalonians ; (a) I pray God your 
whole spirit, and sold, and body, be preserved blameless unto 
the corning of our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah, (#) leaving out 
the inferior part, mentions the other two •, " With my soul have I 
desired thee in the night ; yea, "with my spirit within me will I 
seek thee early" 

From these places, Origen collected the threefold partition of 
man : the body or fleshy which is the worst part, being by the 
original transgression stamped with sin by means of the subtle 
tempter, and, which leading us into all vice, makes us one with 
the devil. The spirit, wherein we are the image of God, 
which is inscribed as it were by the finger of the merciful 
Creator, with the eternal law of rectitude taken from the 
original in the divine mind, whereby we are united to God. 
And lastly, the soul, which is a middle kind of being, the seat 
of the senses, and natural inclinations. It lives, as it were, in a 
factious community, and is obliged to accede to one or other 
party. Tempted on both sides, but at liberty to choose. 

If it renounces the flesh, and goes over to the spirit, it will be 
spiritual likewise : if it descends to comply with the desires of 
the flesh, it will degenerate and become corporeal. To this 
agrees St. Paul, in his 1st epistle to the Corinthians, he that is 
joined unto the Lord, is one spirit, vi. 17. It is the spirit there- 

(«) v. 23. (b) xxvi. 9. 



Chap. VII. Of Spirit, Soul, and Body. 49 

fore that makes us Gods, the flesh that makes us brutes. The 
spirit exalts us to heaven, the flesh sinks us into hell ; whatso- 
ever is carnal, is base ; whatsoever is spiritual, is perfect ; 
whatsoever appertains to us, as mere animals, is indifferent. But 
to speak of this division of man in plainer terms, and level to 
all capacities. — You may say, for instance, that you honor 
your parents, love your relations, children, and friends. Where 
is the great merit of all this ? rather, is it not a crime not to do 
it ? It is a great matter indeed for you, who profess Christianity, 
to do no more than the Gentiles did, and the very brutes 
themselves do. But if you must either displease your father, 
children, and friends, or offend God ? What would you do ? 
Here the soul is perplexed, and moved by the spirit and the 
flesh. The spirit suggests that God is better than a parent •, (a) * 
to the latter you owe your body only, but to the former every 
thing. The flesh on the other hand insinuates, that if you do 
not comply, your father will disinherit you, and you will be 
called an undutiful son, or unkind parent, or friend. Youthen 
consider your worldly interest, and reputation. If the soul 
defies the spirit, and cleaves to the flesh, it will become one 
body with it. Whereas, if despising the latter, it mounts to 
the former, it will be one spirit. After this manner accustom 
yourself to enter into a strict scrutiny with your soul. * In- 



1 " Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right, 
Ephes.vi. 1. upon which words, Hierom thus comments, 'for children 
not to obey their parents is a sin ; but because parents may possi- 
bly command that which is unlawful, therefore, St. Paul adds, in 
the Lord. 1 And Chrysostom expounds them, « in all things where 
you shall not disobey God.' Grotius, Of War and Peace, I, ii. c. 
xxvi. s. iii. 

1 Like St. Paul, despise the opinion of the world if you act as a 
true Christian, and exclaim, " But with me it is a very small thing 
that 1 should be judged of you, or of man 9 s judgment : yea, I judge 
not mine own self. For 1 know nothing by myself, yet am J not 

(a) Matt. x. 37. 
Ch. Ma. D 



50 The Christian's Manual. 

cautious men are often imposed upon by certain qualities, which 
have a great appearance of integrity, and are concealed under 
the mask of virtue. For example, a judge inveighs against a 
criminal, and fancies himself righteous in so doing. What are 
we to think of him ? If this proceeds from his love of justice, 
and hatred of vice, it is praiseworthy ; but if he uses the law to 
execute his revenge, or serve his private purpose, it is a carnal 
brutish act : on the other hand, if he is greatly concerned, that 
he must cut off one, whom he had rather amend than destroy, 
and inflicts condign punishment, with the same reluctance that 
a father commands his dearest son to suffer stripes, then only 
is it a spiritual, and meritorious act. 

Examine what each does by the spiritual rule. If a man 
regards his character or seeming temporal interest, it is plain he 
is moved by the flesh, and not the spirit. 

You pray, and condemn him that prays not. You fast, 
but censure him that eats. Whoever does not as you do, you 
think is not so good. There is reason to fear, your conduct 
proceeds from carnal motives. Your brother is in want, whilst 
you, unconcerned, mutter your prayers to God, who therefore 
rejects them. For shall God grant your prayers, when you 
are deaf to man's entreaties ? You love your wife. What is 
this more than heathens do ? But if the ground of your affec- 
tion is her religion, modesty, temperance, and chastity ; and 
you do not love her only for her own, but for Christ's sake, 
then your love is spiritual. * 



hereby justified : but he that judgeth me is the Lord" I Cor. iv. 
3. 4. 

" 'Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours ; 

And ask them, what report they bore to Heaven ; 

And how they might have borne more welcome news." 

^ Young : Night ii. 

1 Let the husband render unto the •wife due benevolence ; and 

likewise also the wife unto the husband* 1 Cor. vii. 3. Let every 

one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the 

wife see that she reverence her husband. Ephes. v. 33. Husbands, 



Chap. VII. Of Spirit, Soul, and Body. 51 

love your "wives, and be not bitter against them. Col. iii. 19. 1 Peter 
iii. 7. Matt. v. 32. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, 
as it is Jit in the Lord. Col. iii. 18. 1 Tim. ii. 9. Titus ii. 3 — 5. 
1 Peter iii. 1. • 

The beauties of the mind are the best supports of conjugal bliss. 
" And these are charms that never can decay, 
For time, which gives new whiteness to the swan, 
Improves their lustre." 

When the ancients sacrificed to Juno, they never consecrated the 
gall of the victim, but cast it behind the altar, implying that bitter 
anger .and reproach should be banished from matrimony. Bear 
and forbear. 

" Every one has his humours, and fancies, and to speak the truth, 
every one his faults more or less, which, if in any state, certainly 
we ought in matrimony to connive at, and not hate. 

" When a spirit of dissension has once arisen, a reconciliation is 
difficult, especially if reproachful reflections have been made. For 
this reason the parties should be particularly careful to cultivate 
and strengthen concord at the commencement of marriage. This 
is chiefly effected by an indulgent and agreeable disposition. For 
that love, which is founded only upon beauty, is generally short- 
lived." Erasmus in Colloquy, The Uneasy Wife. 



GENERAL RULES 



OF 



TRUE RELIGION. 



Il AVIng hitherto only prepared the way, and given a sketch of 
my design, I proceed to lay down some short rules, by way of clue 
to lead you through the intricate mazes of this erroneous world, 
into a spiritual 4ife of bliss, and liberty. Every art, and science 
has its rules, and maxims, and shall the art of being happy be 
destitute of them ? * There is an appropriate discipline to every 



* Erasmus, in his " Exhortation to the study of Christian Philoso- 
phy," observes, " Ought we not to consider it a shame, that we 
should be ignorant of the doctrines of Jesus Christ, which alone 
can certainly make men happy ? To be able to learn them, it is not 
necessary that we should be skilled in all other sciences. All that 
is requisite, is a devout, and docile mind, and a simple and pure 
faith. If a man be of a tractable temper, it is sufficient for making 
a great progress in this philosophy. The spirit that teaches it, does 
not communicate itself more willingly to any, than to those who 
are simple ; it accommodates itself to the capacities of all, it con- 
descends to the lowest, it feeds them with milk, it supports, and 
strengthens them, and it does every thing to make them * grotv in 
grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' 
2 Peter iii. I 8. At the same time it is admired by men of the 
greatest learning, and parts ; and the farther a man advances in this 
science, the more is he amazed at the majesty of it ; it rejects no 
age, sex, or quality," 



General Rules of true Religion. 55 

virtue^ wherein they only who are well exercised, receive the 
assistance of the holy spirit, the great promoter of men's best 
endeavours. But they who say, Depart from us > for we desire 



" Men often repent that they have spent too much time in read- 
ing the works of men : but happy is that person who is seized by 
death, while he is meditating on the Holy Scriptures. Let us have 
a mighty ardor for this divine book, let us honor it, let us search 
it every moment, for studies form the manners." 

Allestree remarks, " Much may be above us because our ignor- 
ance is such that we cannot see a reason of his ways ; but nothing 
is unreasonable or evil, that proceeds from a holy, wise, loving, and 
just God." Funeral Handkerchief, pt.].p. 145. 

" The end and effect of Religion is faithfully to render to 
God, and man their dues. 

" It is necessary that we apply ourselves to know God : for our 
knowledge of things is the foundation, and the standard of the 
honor we have for them. 

" We ought to be fully persuaded, that his careful providence 
watches over all things ; that even the least, and most inconsider- 
able events do not escape his observation ; that whatsoever his 
dispensations are, they are all for our good ; and that all 'our evil 
comes from ourselves alone. For if we should, account those 
events which God appoints, to be evils, we should be guilty of great 
profanation, and blaspheme against his government ; and tear up 
the very foundations of all piety and religion. Our duty therefore 
is to acquire a right notion of God's dispensations towards us ; to 
resolve to obey him ; to receive all that comes from his hand with 
meekness, and contentment ; to commit ourselves to his protection, 
and to submit to his wise disposal," 

How many apparent evils have proved real blessings ; and 
what unreasonable wishes do we form ? Vain man looks only for 
present enjoyment, God regards our eternal happiness. 

« Whoever would attain to a true knowledge of the Christian 
Religion in the full and just extent of it, let him study the holy 
scriptures, especially the New Testament, wherein are contained 
the words of eternal life : it has God for its author, salvation 
for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter." 
Locke. 



54 The Christian's Manual. 

not the knowledge of thy ways, (a) will be abandoned by the 
divinem ercy, because they hated knowledge. Now the rules 
relate either to persons, and these are God, the devil, and our- 
selves ; or things, as virtue and vice, with their several con- 
nexions : and they are particularly serviceable against blindness, 
lust, and infirmity, three evils the effects of original sin. Blind- 
ness is that cloud of ignorance, which darkens the understand- 
ing. For that bright image of God, in which man was made, 
is obscured not only by the transgression of our first parents ; 
but by bad education, evil company, perverse affections the 
deformity of vice, and habits of sin, which have so effaced the 
law of God written on our hearts, that scarce any traces of it 
can be seen. * Blindness therefore is the cause why men gene- 



1 How eloquently does Cicero discourse on this topic, and bear 
testimony to the corruption of our nature : " If we had come into the 
world in such circumstances as that we could clearly have discerned 
nature herself, and have been able in the course of our lives to 
follow her true, and uncorrupted directions, this alone might have 
been sufficient, and there would have been little need of instruction ; 
but now nature has given us only some small glimmerings of right 
reason, which we so quickly extinguish with depraved opinions, and 
evil practices, that the true light of nature no where appears : for 
there are seeds of virtue innate in our very souls, and if these 
were permitted to spring up till they came to maturity, nature 
would conduct us to happiness of life. But now as soon as we are 
brought into the world, we dwell in the midst of all wickedness, and 
are surrounded with a number of most perverse, and foolish opi- 
nions, so that we seem to suck in error even with our nurses' milk. 
Afterwards, when we return to our parents, and are committed to 
tutors, then we are farther stocked with such a variety of errors, 
that truth becomes perfectly overwhelmed with falsehood ; and the 
most natural sentiments of our minds are entirely stifled with con- 
firmed follies. 

" But when after all this we enter on business in the world, and 
make the multitude, conspiring every where in favor of wickedness, 

(o) Job. xxi. 14. Psalm lviii. 3—5. lxxxi. 11, 12. 



General Rules of true Religion. 55 

rally err in the choice of things, rejecting good, for bad, profit- 
able, for unprofitable, (a) Lust bribes our affections, that 
although we know what is right and good, we love it not, but 
rather choose its contrary. Infirmity makes us relinquish the 
virtue we embraced, either through weariness, or temptation. 
Blindness impedes the judgment ; lust corrupts the will ; and 
infirmity saps our constancy. The first thing is to distin- 
guish what to avoid, and what to pursue ; and our blindness 
ought to b e rem oved, to enable us to make a right choice. 







our great guide, and example, then our very nature itself is wholly 
transformed, as it were, into corrupt opinions." Tusc, lib. 3. 
s. 1. 2. ib. de Legib. lib. 1. 

But the philosophers, ignorant of the transgression of our first 
parents, could not trace this depravity to its source. 

" The methods of our education are governed by custom. It is 
by the prejudice arising from our own customs, that we judge of 
all other civil and religious forms and practices. 

" The business of the fashion has a most powerful influence upon 
our judgments, for it employs those two strong engines of fear and 
shame, to operate upon our understandings with unhappy success. 
We are ashamed to believe, or profess an unfashionable opinion, in 
philosophy, and a cowardly soul does not so much as indulge a 
thought contrary to the established, or fashionable faith, nor act in 
opposition to custom, though it be according to the dictates of 
reason. 

" I confess there is a respect due to mankind, which should 
incline even the wisest of men to follow the innocent customs of 
their country in the outward practices of civil life ; and in some 
measure to submit to fashion in all indifferent affairs, where reason 
and scripture make no remonstrance against it : but the judgments 
of the mind ought to be for ever free, and not biassed by the customs 
and fashions of any age or nation whatever. 

" Let us learn therefore to abstract as much as possible from 
custom and fashion, when we would pass a judgment concerning 
the real value and intrinsic nature of things." Watts, Logic part 2. 
c. 3. s. 4. p. 167—170. 

(a) Ephes. iv. 18. 



56 The Christian's Manual. 

The next when we know good from evil, we should choose 
the one, and decline the other ; and to this end we must subdue 
the flesh, that it may not tempt us to prefer vice to virtue, 
against the sense of our minds. * The third is to continue in 



1 " Moral good or virtue, or holiness, is an action or temper con- 
formable to the rule of our duty ; moral evil or vice or sin, is an 
action or temper unconformable to the rule of our duty, or a neglect 
to fulfil it. 

I "The will of our Maker, whether discovered by reason, or revela- 
tion, carries the highest authority with it, and is therefore the 
highest rule of duty to intelligent creatures ; a conformity or non- 
conformity to it determines their actions to be morally good or 
evil. Whatever is really an immediate duty toward ourselves, or 
toward our fellow creatures, is more remotely a duty to God, and 
therefore in the practice of it we should have an eye to the will of 
God as our rule, and to his glory as our end. Though our natural 
reason in a sta.te of innocence might be sufficient to find out those 
duties, which were necessary for an innocent creature in order to 
abide in the favor of his Maker ; yet in a fallen state, our natural 
reason is by no means sufficient to rind out all that is necessary to 
restore a sinful creature to the divine favor. Therefore God has 
condescended in various ages of mankind to reveal to sinful men 
what he requires of them, in order to their restoration ; and has 
appointed in his word some peculiar matters of faith and practice 
in order to their salvation. This is called revealed religion ; as 
the things knowable concerning God, and our duty by the light of 
nature, are called natural religion. There are also many parts of 
morality, and natural religion, or many natural duties relating to 
God, to ourselves, and to our neighbours, which would be exceed- 
ing difficult and tedious for the bulk of mankind to find out, and 
determine, by natural reason ; therefore it has pleased God in this 
sacred book of divine revelation to express the most necessary 
duties of this kind in a very plain and easy manner, and make them 
intelligible to souls of the lowest capacity, or they may be very 
easily derived thence by the use of reason." Walls, Logic part 2. 
c. 5. s. 3. p. 199. 

"There are some methods for the more easy attaining virtue, 
such as seriously and frequently to meditate upon our dissolution* 



General Bides of true Religion. 57 

well-doing, and our weakness must therefore be supported, 
that we forsake not the path of virtue, with more shame, than 
if we had never entered it. Our ignorance is to be informed, 
that we may know the right way ; (a) our flesh tamed, that 
we may not deviate into by-paths ; our infirmity animated, 
that when we have walked in the narrow way (b) for some time, 
we may neither stop nor turn away, nor having set our hands 
to the plough, look back ; (c) 2 but " rejoice as a strong man to 
run a race" (d) " forgetting those things which are behind, and 
reaching forth unto those things which are before" (e) until we 
lay hold of the prize, the crown laid up for them that persevere 
unto the end. To these three things will our rules be severally 
adapted. 

the certain end of this frail body, and also of the immortality of our 
souls." Dr. More, Account of Virtue lib. 3. c. 3. s. xii. 

1 George, Prince of Anholt, a disciple of Luther's, prayed 
that God would incline his heart to the truth, saying " deal with thy 
servant according to thy mercy, and instruct me in righteousness." 
(died An. 1553.) 

" It is impossible for him not to find the truth, who seeks it with 
all his heart and power. " 

* ** Christ often compares his word to seed, and the time of gain- 
ing others to the faith to the harvest. Now of the ploughers, and 
sowers of the seed it was said proverbially, ' he is no good plough- 
man, or seedsman who being at work looketh back,' because his 
furrows will not be straight, nor his seed cast even from him. 
Whence they require of such a one, first, that he should stoop ; for 
then he cannot look back, according to that of Pliny, * Arator nisi 
incurvus prevaricator.' Hist. Nat. I. 18. c. 19. Secondly, that 
he should look straight before him, not back on his associates. 

« This Christ applies to the spiritual husbandry ; to which he 
that applies himself must forget the things "which are behind, and 
reach forth unto those things which are before." Phil. iii. 13. 
Whiiby, Paraphrase and Commentary on the New Testament. Luke 
ix, 62. p. 398. 

(«) Psalm cxix. 17—19. (6) Matt. vii. 14. (c) Luke ix, 62. 

(rf) Psalm xix. 5. (c) Phil. iii. 13. 



58 The Christian's Manual. 

rule I. 

The necessity of Faith. 

oince faith (a) * is essential to our salvation by Christ, it ought 
to be our first care to entertain the highest opinion of him, 

1 '■ Reason to faith obedient homage pays, 
Nor clouds with human wit, diviner rays 
Of wisdom infinite." 

Tolson, Moral Emblems vol. 1. Em. xxi. 
" Reason never shows itself more reasonable, than in ceasing to 
reason on things above reason." Sir Philip Sidney. 

What presumption for a finite being to judge of infinity ! as well 
might he attempt to fathom the ocean with a yard of cable. 

" Neither in the flint alone or in steel alone any fire is to be seen, 
or extracted but by conjunction, and collision; so not by faith alone, 
or by good works alone is salvation attained, but by joining both." 
Peter Chrysologus. An. 440. 

" What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath 
faith, and have not works P can faith save him ? If a brother or sister 
be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them y 
depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled : notwithstanding ye give 
them not those things which are needful to the body : what doth it 
profit ? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 
Yea, a man may say, thou hast faith, and I have works : show me thy 
faith without thy works, a?id I will show thee my faith by my works. 
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils 
also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, vain man, that faith 
without works is dead '? Was not Abraham our Father justified by 
works, when he had offered Isaac his so?i upon the altar ? Seest thou 
how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made 
perfect ? Ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by 
faith only. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without 
works is dead also." James ii. 14. 22. 24. 26. Matt. vii. 21. 

(a) Heb. xi. 



Rule I. The Necessity of Faith. 59 

and the Scriptures inspired by his Spirit. And our belief 
ought to be expressed, not by our lips only, (a) or in a cold, 
careless manner, but we should be sincerely persuaded, that 
there is not one jot or tittle in them, but highly concerns our 
eternal salvation. Be not moved, though you see a great part 
of mankind live, as if there were neither Heaven nor Hell, or as 
if these things were old wives' tales, fit only to frighten, or 
influence children. Let your faith support you. (b) I For that 
cannot be false, which Truth itself has asserted ; and that which 
God has foretold shall, and must come to pass. If you believe 
a God, (c) you must believe him to be true, (d) 2 Lay it down 



1 " As a rock, though winds and waves beat against it, is immovi- 
able, so faith grounded upon the Rock of Christ holds out in al 
temptations, and spiritual combats." Chrysostom. {An. 400) 

* No Nation was ever so savage, and wicked as to deny the 
existence of a God ; it was reserved for men enjoying the advar- 
tages of civilization, boasting of superior reason, and assuming the 
proud title of philosophers and illuminati, and " who, professing 
themselves voise, become fools." Rom. i. 22. 

" O ye falPn ! 
FalPn from the wings of reason, and of hope ! 
Erect in stature, prone in appetite ! 
Patrons of pleasure, posting into pain ! 
Lovers of argument, averse to sense ! 
Boasters of liberty, fast bound in chains ! 
Lords of the wide creation, and the shame ! 
More senseless than the irrationals you scorn. 
In the coarse drudgeries and sinks of sense 
Your souls have quite worn out the make of Heaven, 
By vice new cast and creatures of your own : 
But tho* you can deform, you can't destroy ; 
To curse, not uncreate, is all your power." 

Young, Night vii. 
The wisest heathens entertained some just ideas of his nature and 
attributes. 

(a) Luke vi. 40. (b) TIcb. vi. 19. 

(c) Rom. i. 18—20. (rf) 1 John v. 20. 



60 The Christian's Manual. 

then for certain, and more to be depended upon, than any thing, 



Plato (who florished 400 B. C.) mentions the most divine 'word 
which he calls the cause of beings, and confesses that our welfare in 
this world, and happiness in the next, depend upon our knowledge 
of this word, which alone is able to open to us the knowledge of the 
most sublime truths. Tom. 9. p. 986. ib. 3. p. 323. Compare this 
with John 1. Vide Clerc f s Grotius b.l. s. 16. 

" And calls God, one and Truth itself." Chit. p. 57. 

" The most excellent being cannot but produce the most excellent 
effects." Ib. in Tim. p. 1047. ed. Ficini. 

" All things were produced by a divine power with infinite wisdom 
aid reason." Ib. Sophist, p. 185. ed. Fie. 

Thales declared " God is the eldest being unbegotten ; the 
vorld the most beautiful, because it is God's workmanship.'' Vide 
Diog. Laer. 

Socrates, after describing the admirable structure of man, said to 
Aiistodemus, " Can you yet hesitate to determine whether it be an 
effect of providence or of chance ? I doubt not in the least, replied 
A'istodemus, and the more I earnestly contemplate these things, 
the more I am persuaded that all is the masterpiece of a great work- 
nan, who bears an extreme love to men. 

" This is not all, said Socrates, answer me yet further : you are 
not ignorant that you are endued with understanding ; do you then 
think that there is not elsewhere an intelligent being ? 

« c Can it be said that this universe has been disposed in so much 
crder without the aid of an intelligent being, and by mere chance ? 

" Know you not that the most ancient and wisest republics, and 
people are the most pious ? 

" O my dear Aristodemus, consider that thy mind governs thy 
body as it pleases ; in like manner we ought to believe, that there is a 
mind diffused throughout the universe, that disposes of all things 
as it pleases ; thou must not imagine that thy weak sight can reach 
to objects that are several leagues distant, and that the eye of God 
cannot at one and the same time see all things ; thou must not 
imagine that thy mind can reflect on the affairs of Athens, of 
Egypt, and of Sicily, and that the providence of God cannot at 
one and the same moment consider all things. 



Rule I. The Necessity of Faith. 61 

that there is no where to be found such infallible truth as in 



" The deity sees all, hears all, is present every where, and takes 
care at the same time of all the parts of the universe." 

Zenophon adds, " by such discourses as these Socrates taught his 
friends never to commit any injustice, or dishonorable action, not 
only in the presence of men, but even in secret, and when they are 
alone." 

When Antiphon ridiculed the temperance of Socrates he magna- 
nimously said, "If I am not greedy of dainties, if I sleep little, if I 
abandon not myself to any infamous amour ; the reason is, because 
I spend my time more delightfully in things whose pleasure end* 
not in the moment of enjoyment, and that make me hope beside© 
to receive an everlasting reward. 

" One would think, Antiphon, that thou belie vest happiness to 
consist in good eating and drinking, and in an expensive and splen- 
did way of life ; I for my part am of opinion, that to have need of 
nothing at all is a divine perfection, and that to have need but <*£ 
little is to approach very near the deity ; and hence it follows that 
as there is nothing more excellent than the deity, whatever ap- 
proaches nearest to it, is likewise most near the supreme excel- 
lence." Zenophon, Mem. of Socrates, b. i. 

" Arid this supreme God who built the universe and who supports 
this great work, every part whereof is accomplished in beauty and 
goodness ; he who is the cause that none of its parts grow old with 
time, and that they preserve themselves always in an immortal 
vigor j who is the cause besides that they inviolably obey his laws, 
with a readiness that surpasses our imagination ; he, I say, is visible 
enough in the many wondrous works of which he is author, but 
our eyes cannot penetrate even into his throne, to behold him in 
these great occupations, and in that manner it is that he is always 
invisible.. 

" If there be any thing in man that participates of the divine 
nature, it is his soul, which beyond all dispute, guides and governs 
him and yet we cannot see it ; let all this therefore teach you not 
to despise the things that are invisible, learn to know their power 
by their effects, and to honor the deity." lb. b. iv. 

Phocion, speaking of the omniscience of God, sublimely says, 
" I wish all men were fully persuaded of this important truth, that 



62 The Christian's Manual. 

those books, which were inspired by the God of truth ; pro- 
there is another life in which Providence, which rules the world, and 
sees the most secret motions of our heart, will punish vice, and 
reward virtue ; this doctrine, which stands founded on the divine 
justice, which our reason rejoices in, and which is so adapted to 
our wants, is terrible only to our passions. It is to amaze and 
stagger by paradoxes, or to shake off the yoke of a salutary dread, 
that the sophists have disowned that supreme Being, who is the " 
universal principle, and whose name is written in indelible charac- 
ters on every part of his infinite works. They have ridiculously 
advanced that chance made all things, and superintends all things, 
or rather superintends nothing. For the ease of I know not what 
slothful, and sensual deities of their own making, they deny that 
they give themselves any concern about the confusion and bustle of 
this low earth. If the gloomy river which nine times surrounds the 
mansion of the dead, those ever flowery fields, audacious Ixion's 
wheel, Prometheus's vulture, and the Eumenides with their serpents, 
be but ingenious fictions, am I therefore to conclude that no man- 
ner of recompence awaits virtue, nor punishment vice, after death ; 
and that it is downright folly to put ourselves to the trouble of 
checking our passions, and cultivating virtue ? 

" It is not wkhout conflict, and even fears, that we commit the 
first act of injustice, the soul recoils, and often cannot be brought 
to it ; in a word guilt has its degrees, and it is by gradual practice 
that a villain is inured to villainy. First, he makes himself familiar 
with ideas of guilt, then hatches means for eluding the magistrates 7 
watchfulness, and the strictness of the laws ; in planning an act of 
injustice, we come to be pleased with it, we hug ourselves for the 
artifice, we anticipate the pleasure of its execution, and at length 
carry it through boldly and without any remorse. Whereas had 
the criminal known that there is a judge from whom nothing can 
be concealed, and whose punishments he could not escape, fear 
must have produced a good effect in his heart whilst impressible, 
and have restrained his passions when they were yet sensible of a 
superior sway. 

" The sophists, my dear Aristias, cavil loudly that religion and 
virtue do not go together ; that they who are distinguished for the 
former have little of the latter, but they quite mistake the point, 
dignifying with the appellation of religion, what in reality is only 



Rule I. The Necessity of Faith, 63 



superstition, or hypocrisy, or at best form. They give the name 
of a pious man to that oaf, who takes up with some ceremonies 
and expiations without any knowledge of what heaven enjoins or 
forbids, and to that knave who makes a show of fearing the 
gods, that he may the better deceive men. 

«' I am not ignorant how very much we are slaves to our senses. 
Passions unquestionably so disorder our reason as to warp us aside 
from the fear of God : still is that fear an additional check ; be- 
sides, their ebriety is not perpetual ; reason has its instants of reflec- 
tion, when the thoughts of a vindictive God must make the guilty 
shudder, and fill him with salutary perturbation ; at last comes 
on senility, the passion droops, and religious sentiments at least 
cause those evils to be repaired, which they came too late to pre- 
vent. We lament, we detest, our error, and set patterns of virtue 
by which young men may learn their duty." Phocion's Conversa- 
tions, by Nicocles, Conv. iii. 

Nicocles describes Aristias, who applied to Phocion to instruct 
and guide him to unsophisticated Truth, " as a young man naturally 
of the happiest dispositions, but whose mind the Sophists had begun 
to vitiate. He has the volatility of a coxcomb who imagines him- 
self profoundly acquainted with weighty truths, because his opinions 
are singular ; and full of himself for his fortitude in throwing off 
some vulgar prejudices." lb. Confers, i. 

What a fine representation of modern illuminati ! may such com- 
plete the likeness, by imitating the candor of Aristias, and embrac- 
ing truth ! 

Aristotle (340 B. C.) described God as " incorporeal." Diog. {n 
Vita Aristot. " The first mover of all things." Metaphys. 

In his History of the World, he says, " He is the Father of gods 
and men ; he is the maker and preserver of all things that are 
in the world." " It is impossible for any thing to come out of no- 
thing." lb. Physic. I. iv. 

And Galen, (150 A. D.) after diligently anatomizing the body, 
exclaimed, " Here truly do I make a song in the praise of our 
Creator, for that, of his own accord, it hath pleased him to adorn 
and beautify his things better than any art could effect or imagine." 
/.v. de usu part. 

" There is no man whatsoever, who makes any use of his reason, 
but may easily become more certain of the being of a Supreme 



64 The Christian's Manual. 



independent cause, than he can be of any thing else besides his own 
existence. For how much thought soever it may require to de- 
monstrate the other attributes of such a Being, as it may do to 
demonstrate the greatest mathematical certainties; yet as to its 
existence, that there is somewhat eternal, infinite, and self-existing, 
which must be the cause and original of all other things ; this is one 
he first and most natural conclusions, that any man, who thinks 

all, can frame in his mind : and no man can any more doubt of 
this, than he can doubt whether twice two be equal to four. It is 
possible indeed a man may in some sense be ignorant of this first 
and plain truth, by being utterly stupid, and not thinking at all : 
(for though it is absolutely impossible for him to imagine the con- 
trary, yet he may possibly neglect to conceive this. Though no 
man can possibly think that twice two is not four, yet he may pos- 
sibly be stupid, and never have thought at all whether it be so or 
not.)" Clarke, Discourse concerning the Being and Attributes of God, 
the Obligations of Natural Religion, and the Truth and Certainty of 
the Christian Revelation, p. 20. 

Cicero, discoursing of a future state, observes, " These and the 
like contemplations had such an effect upon Socrates, that when he 
was tried for his life, he neither desired an advocate to plead his 
cause, nor made any supplication to his judge for mercy ; and on 
the very last day of his life, made many excellent discourses upon 
the subject ; and a few days before, when he had an opportunity 
offered him to escape out of prison, he would not avail himself of 
it, for thus he believed, and thus he taught ; that when the souls of 
men depart out of their bodies, they go two different ways, the 
virtuous to a place of happiness, and die wicked and the sensual to 
misery." Tusc. lib. i. $, xxix. xxx. 

And declares the immortality of the soul proved " by the con- 
sent of all antiquity, who discerned truth more clearly in propor- 
tion as they were nearer their original and divine extraction. There- 
fore this principle, that there was sense after death, was deeply in- 
grafted in our forefathers. Death was not an, annihilation, but a 
removal and change of Life." Tusc. I. i. s. xii. 

"Many have unworthy conceptions of God arising from corrupt 
custom, yet all agree in this faith, that there is a divine nature and 
power ; nor is this opinion the result of their conference, or combi- 
nation, or founded upon custom, or laws." lb. s. xiii. 



Rule I. TJie Necessity of Faith. 65 

■ • — 

"As we conceive the being of God by natural instinct, but col- 
lect his nature and attributes by rational deductions, so that souls 
subsist in a separate state we judge by the consent of all nations ; 
what mansions they inhabit, and what their essential qualities are, 
we must learn. " lb. s. xvi. 

" Heaven is her natural home, where she will have arrived at 
her own similitude, where she will want nothing. 

" Doubtless blessed shall we be when divested of these bodies 5 
we shall with them have put off their craving desires, and fond 
emulations ; we shall employ ourselves in contemplating the won- 
derful effects of nature, and discerning their causes." lb. s. xix. 

" When the soul shall be by herself, nothing shall prevent her 
discovering every object according to its proper nature." lb. s. xx. 

" For my part, when I examine the nature of the soul, it seems 
a far more difficult and obscure speculation what the soul should 
be when confined to this body as in a strange house, than what it 
should be when escaped, and arrived at Heaven, as its proper 
home. ,, 

M God is an incorporeal spfrit." lb. s. xxii. 

" When I consider the faculties with which the human mind 
is endued ; its amazing celerity ; its wonderful power of recollec- 
tion, and sagacity in discerning future events ; together with its 
numberless discoveries in the several arts and sciences, I feel a 
conviction that this active, comprehensible principle, cannot possi- 
bly be of a mortal nature. 

* l Tell me, my friends, whence is it that the wisest men meet 
death with the most perfect equanimity ; while the ignorant see 
its approach with the utmost alarm and reluctance ? Is it not be- 
cause the more enlightened the mind is, and the farther it extends 
its views, the more clearly it distinguishes in the hour of dissolu- 
tion, (what vulgar souls are too short sighted to discover) that it is 
taking its flight into some happier region ? 

" In short, I consider this world as a place, which nature never 
designed for my permanent abode ; and I look upon my departure 
out of it, not as being driven from my habitation, but as leaving 
my inn. 

" O happy day, when I shall go to that blessed assembly of spi- 
rits, and depart out of this wicked and miserably confused world." 
De Senectute. 

Ch. Ma. E 



66 TJie Christian's Manual. 



Maximus Tyrius, Dissert. 41. observes, "degenerate souls are 
buried in their bodies, like insects in their holes, and are in lore 
with their lurking places." p. 495. 

"The health of the body is but uncertain and temporary, that of 
the soul solid and immortal." lb. p. 491. 

Cicero exclaims, " Wilt thou, when God, or nature, hath given 
thee a soul, than which nothing is more excellent and divine, so de- 
base thyself as to suppose there is no difference between thee and a 
beast ? " Paradox, p. 217. 

" Consider you are not mortal, but only thy body is so ; the mind 
is the man, and not that bodily figure which you can point at with 
your finger." De Somn. Scip. 233. et vide Tusc. lib. i. 343. 

" What is nature but God." Seneca de Benef. iv. 7. 

Aristotle says, " It remains that the rational or intellectual soul 
can only enter from without, as being of a nature purely divme." 
De generatione Animal, lib. 2. c. 3- 

Anaxagoras divided his estate amongst his relatives and friends, 
and when they censured him, and inquired, "why leave us for 
your philosophical contemplations, have you no regard for your 
country?" pointing to heaven he replied, "yes, the greatest care 
of all." Laert.p. 34. Val. Max. 5. ID. ext. 3. et 7. 2. ext. 8. 

Anaxarchus, a Thracian philosopher, told the tyrant Nicocreon, 
King of Cyprus, who pounded him in a mortar, "You may break 
in pieces the prison of Anaxarchus, himself you cannot hurt." 
Laert. 252. Vide Cic. N. D. 3. 33. Tusc, 2. 22. Val Max. 3. 3. 

" The notices that God has been pleased to give us of himself 
are so many, and so obvious, in the constitution, order, beauty and 
harmony, of the several parts of the world ; in the frame and struc- 
ture of our own bodies, and the wonderful powers and faculties of 
our souls ; in the unavoidable apprehensions of our own minds, 
and the common consent of all other men ; in every thing within 
us, and every thing without us ; that no man of the meanest capa- 
city and greatest disadvantages whatsoever, with the slightest and 
most superficial observation of the works of God, and the lowest 
and most obvious attendance to the reason of things, can be igno- 
rant of him, but he must be utterly without excuse. He may not 
indeed be able to understand, or be affected by, nice and metaphy- 
sical demonstrations of the being and attributes of God: but then, 
for the same reason, he is obliged also not to suffer himself to be 



Rule I. The Necessity of Faith. 67 

shaken and unsettled, by the subtle sophistries of sceptical and 
atheistical men, which he cannot perhaps answer, because he can- 
not understand. But he is bound to adhere to those things which 
he knows, and those reasonings he is capable to judge of; which 
are abundantly sufficient to determine and to guide the practice 
of sober and considering men." Clarke, Disc. i. p. 140. 

u But this is not all. God has moreover finally, by a clear and 
express revelation of himself, brought down from Heaven, by his 
own Son, our blessed Lord and Redeemer ; and suited to every capa- 
city and understanding ; put to silence the ignorance of foolish, 
and the vanity of sceptical and profane men : and by declaring to 
us himself his own nature and attributes, has effectually prevented 
all mistakes, which the weakness of our reason, the negligence of 
our application, the corruption of our nature, or the false philoso- 
phy of wicked and profane men, might have led us into ; and >;p 
has infallibly furnished us with sufficient knowledge to enable us 
to perform our duty in this life, and to obtain our happiness in that 
which is to come." Id. p. 140. 

" The fool hath said in his heart there is no God." Ps. xiv. 1. 

Bentley in his most admirable confutation of Atheism, alluding 
to the great folly of men educated " in a religion that instruct- 
ed them in the knowledge of a Supreme Being," permitting their 
principles to be destroyed by the sophistry of Atheists and Deists, 
observes, " What then is Heaven itself, with its pleasures for ever- 
more, to be parted with so unconcernedly ? Is a crotvn of righteous- 
ness, (2 Tim. iv. 8) a crotvn of life, (James i. 12) to be surrendered 
with laughter ? Is an exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 
iv. 17) too light in the balance against the hopeless death of the 
Atheist, and utter extinction ? 'Twas a noble saying of the 
Emperor Marcus, that he would not endure to live one day in the 
world, if he did not believe it to be under the government of 
Providence." Serm. 1. 

The heathen Protin exclaimed, " I will praise God in those things, 
which I understand, and I will admire him in those things, which I 
understand not ; for I see that I myself often do things wherein my 
servants are blind, and conceive no reason ; as also 1 have seen 
little children cast into the fire jewels of great price, and their fathers' 
writings of great learning and wisdom, for that they were not of 
capacity to understand the value of the things." 



68 The Christian's Manual. 



Montesquieu says, " The pious man and the atheist always talk 
of religion ; the one speaks of what he loves, the other of what he 
fears." Spirit of Laws, b. c 25. c. 1. 

Even Epicurus dreaded the thoughts of God and death. Vide 
Laert. in Epicar. 297. Whence Stillingfleet observed, " How hard 
is it for an Epicurean to silence his conscience, after he has pros- 
tituted it : for, whatever there be in the air, there is an elastical power 
in conscience, that will bear itself up, notwithstanding the weight 
that is laid upon it." Orig. Sacr. b. iii. c. i. p. 230. 

" Woe unto him that strivetk with his Maker ! Let the potsherd 
strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that 
fashioneth it, what makest thou P or thy work, he hath no hands? — 
I have made the earth, and created man upon it : I, even my hands, 
have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have 1 commanded. 
Isa. xlv. 9. 12. 

u Beyond all credulity, therefore, is the credulousness of the 
Atheist, whose belief is so absurdly strong as to believe that chance 
should make the world, when it cannot build a house ; that chance 
should produce all plants, when it cannot paint a landscape ; and 
that chance should form all animals, both rational and irrational, 
when it cannot so much as make a watch or any other lifeless ma- 
chine." 

Does not the modern Sophist, or Illuminaii, stand convicted and 
appalled at his horrid depravity I he must — he does — let him not 
despair, for mercy is an attribute of his heavenly Father; but in- 
stantly bend the hitherto stubborn knee, and implore pardon of the 
offended majesty of God ; the precious blood of Jesus Christ, and 
penitential tears will blot out the foul crime, and rejoicing angels 
hail his conversion. Luke xv. 7 — 10. 

Some reject revelation, and " sit in darkness and the shadow of 
death," Ps. cvii. 10. and imitate the rebellious Jews, " who refused 
to hearken and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that 
they should not hear ; yea they made their hearts as an adamant 
stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord erf 
Hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets ; therefore came 
a great wrath from the God of Hosts : therefore it is come to pass, 
that as he cried, and they would not hear ; so they cried, and I Would 
not hear, saith the Lord of Hosts ; but I scattered them with a whirl- 
wind among all the nations whom they knew not" Zech. vii. 11-14, 



Rule I. The Necessity of Faith. 69 

How exactly does our Saviour describe the motives of such ; 
" This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world ; and 
men loved darkness rather than light , because their deeds were evil; 
Jor every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the 
light, lest his deeds should be reproved : but he that doeth truth 
cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they 
are wrought in God." John iii. 1-9-21. 

And St.. v ,Paul, " But if our gospel be hid, it. is hid to them that are 
lost: in whom the god of this tvorld, ft he Devil J hath blinded tha 
minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of 
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." 2 Cor. 
iv. 3. 4. 

" With insolence and impotence of thought, 

Instead of racking fancy, to refute, 

Reform thy manners, and the truth enjoy.— 

But shall I dare confess the dire result ? 

Can thy proud reason brook so black a brand ? 

From purer manners, to sublimer faith, 

Is nature's unavoidable ascent ; 

An honest Deist, where the gospel shines, 

Matur'd to nobler, in the Christian ends." 

Young, Night viU 
" Let the Deist read the sermons and exhortations of our Sa- 
viour, as delivered in the Gospels ; and the discourses of the Apos- 
tles, preserved in their Acts and their Epistles ; and try if he can 
withstand the evidence of such a doctrine, and reject the hopes of 
such a glorious immortality so discovered to him. The heathen 
philosophers, those few of them, who taught and lived up to the 
obligations of natural religion, had indeed a consistent scheme of 
Deism, so far as it went ; and they were very brave and wise men, 
if any of them could keep steady and firm to it. But the case is 
not so now. The same scheme of Deism is not any longer consist- 
ent with its own principles, if it does not now lead men to embrace 
and believe revelation, as it then taught them to hope for it. Deists, 
in our days, who obstinately reject revelation when offered to them, 
are not such men as Socrates and Tully were ; but, under pretence 
of Deism, it is plain they are generally ridiculers of all that is 
truly excellent even in natural religion itself. Could we see a Deist, 



70 The Christian's Manual. 



whose mind was heartily possessed with worthy and just appre- 
hensions of all the attributes of God, and a deep sense of his duty 
towards that supreme author and preserver of his being ; could we 
see a Deist, who lived in an exact performance of all the duties of 
natural religion ; and by the practice of righteousness, justice, 
equity, sobriety, and temperance, expressed in his actions, as well 
as words, a firm belief and expectation of a future state of rewards 
and punishments : in a word, could we see a Deist, who with reve- 
rence and modesty, with sincerity and impartiality, with a true and 
hearty desire of finding out and submitting to reason and truth, 
would inquire into the foundations of our belief, and examine tho- 
roughly the pretensions, which pure and uncorrupt Christianity has 
to be received as a divine revelation ; I think we could not doubt 
to affirm of such a person, as our Saviour did of the young man 
in the gospel, that he was * not far from the kingdom of God," 
(Mark xii. 34.) and that being willing «* to do his will, he shoidd 
know of the doctrine, whether it was of God." John vii. 17. — Clarice, 
ib.p. 31. 

" There was plainly wanting a divine revelation, to recover man- 
kind out of their universally degenerate estate into a state suitable 
to the original excellency of their nature : which divine revelation, 
both the necessities of men, and their natural notions of God, gave 
them reasonable ground to expect and hope for ; as appears from 
the acknowledgments which the best and wisest of the heathen phi- 
losophers themselves have made of their sense of the necessity and 
want of such a revelation ; and from their expressions of the hopes 
they had entertained, that God would some time or other vouchsafe 
it unto them." lb. 1 97. 

" There was a necessity of some particular divine revelation, 
(Plato in Epinomide) to make the whole doctrine of religion clear 
and obvious to all capacities, to add weight and authority to the 
plainest precepts, and to furnish men with extraordinary assistances 
to enable them to overcome the corruptions of their nature. And 
without the assistance of such a revelation, 'tis manifest it was not 
possible that the world could ever be effectually reformed ; * Ye 
may e'en give over,' saith Socrates, (Plato in Apol. Socrat.) i all 
hopes of amending men's manners for the future, unless God be 
pleased to send you some other person to instruct you.' And Plato, 



Rule I. The Necessity of Faith 71 

« Whatever,* saith he, (Plato de Republ. lib. 6.) * is set right and as 
it should be, in the present evil state of the world, can be so only 
by the particular interposition of God.' " lb. p. 200. 

" It seems best to me, saith Socrates (Plato in Alcibiade 2.) to one of 
his disciples, that we expect quietly ; nay it is absolutely necessary, 
that we wait with patience, till such time as we can learn certainly, 
how we ought to behave ourselves both towards God and towards 
men. When will that time come, replies the Disciple, and who is 
it that will teach us this ? For methinks I earnestly desire to see 
and know who the person is that will do it. It is one, answers Sm: 
crates, who has now a concern for you. But in like manner, as Ho- 
mer relates that Minerva took away the mist from before Diorr edes* 
eyes, that he might be able to distinguish one person from an. rher ; 
so it is necessary that the mist which is now before vour mind, be 
first taken away, that afterwards you may learn to distinguish rightly 
betwixt good and evil ; for, as yet, you are not able to do it. Let 
the person you mentioned, replies the Disciple, take away this mist, or 
whatever else it be, as soon as he pleases ; for I am willing to do 
any thing he shall direct, whosoever this person be ; so that I may 
but become a good man. Nay, answers Socrates, that person has a 
wonderful readiness and willingness to do all this for you. It will 
be best then, replies the Disciple, to forbear ofFering any more s i- 
crifices till the time that this person appears* You judge very well, 
answers Socrates, it will be much safer so to do, ban to run so 
great a hazard of ofFering sacrifices, which you know not whecher 
they are acceptable to God or no. Well then, replies the Disciple, 
we will then make our offerings to the gods, when that day comes ; 
and I hope, God willing, it may not be far off." lb. p. 203 

They confessed that the truth was hid from them, " as it were in 
unfathomable depth, that even the things which in themselves 
were of all others the most manifest, the natural understanding was 
of itself unqualified to find out and apprehend, as the eye to behold 
the light of the sun." Aristut. Metaph. lib. ii. chap. I. 

Simmias, a disciple of Socrates, remarked, " It is impossible, or 
at least very difficult, to know the truth in this life ; one of these 
two things must be done; we must either learn the tru-h from 
others, or find it out ourselves. If both ways fail us, amidst all 
human reasons, we must fix upon the strongest and most forcible, 
and trust to that as to a ship, whilst we pass through this stormy 



"73 The Christian's Manual. 



sea, and endeavour to avoid its tempests and shelves, till we disco- 
ver one more firm and sure, such as a revelation ; upon which we 
may happily accomplish the voyage of this life, as in a vessel that 
fears no danger." Plato in Phedon. 

" There goes a tradition in China, that when Confucius ([flour, 
An. 500. B. C.J was complimented upon the excellency of his phi- 
losophy, and his own conformity thereto, he modestly declined the 
honor that was done him, and said that ' he greatly fell short of the 
most perfect degree of virtue, but that in the west the Most Holy 
was to be found.' Most of the missionaries who relate this, are 
firmly persuaded that Confucius foresaw the coming of.the Messiah, 
and meant to predict it in this short sentence ; but whether he did 
or no, it is certain that it has always made a very strong impress 
sion upon the learned in China." Vide Morals of Confucius, abr. 
f. 44. London. 1691. 

Philosophy was confined to a few ; and, as Origen well observed, 
" none but men of parts and learning, qf study and liberal educa- 
tion, had been able to profit by the sublime doctrine of Plato, or 
the subtle disputations of other philosophers ; whereas the doctrine 
of morality, which is the rule of life and manners, ought to be 
plain, easy and familiar, and suited fully to the capacity of all 
men." Origen, advers. Cels. lib. 6. 

" Besides the truths they taught were single and scattered," (Jusr 
tin apol. 1.) " and they differed so much that Austin, out of Varro, 
reckons two hundred and eighty opinions concerning the chief good 
or final happiness of man." 

« Another reason of its insufficiency was, that it required au- 
thority, as they were only the precepts of men, however reasonable." 
Lactaniius, lib. 3. 

"But what are these, 
Or what are their imperfect images 
Of things celestial, to the glorious train 
Of apostolic saints, and that rich vein 
Of wisdom infinite, which sweetly flow'd 
From Truth's eternal spring, the mouth of God . ? 
There dwells all learning, there the thirsty soul 
May drink her fill, and taste the mighty all 
Of knowledge unccnfined, and love supreme, 
Divinely flowing in that sacred stream. 



Rule I. The Necessity of Faith. 73 



There all is pure, thence nature perfect grown, 
Can wing new glorious worlds, and make their joys her own. 
Tolson f Moral Emblems, Em. ii. vol. I. 
The gospel only can reform mankind. Lactantius exultingly 
exclaims, " Give me a man that is angry, furious and passionate, 
and with a few words of God I will render him as meek and quiet 
as a lamb. Give me one that is lustful, filthy and vicious, and you 
shall see him sober, chaste and continent." 

' f So great is the power of divine wisdom, that being infused into 
the breast of a man, it will soonexpel that folly, which is the great 
parent of all vice and wickedness." Lib. 3. de fals. Sapientia, c. 26. 
p. 288. 

Arnobius, (An. 297.) urging the triumphant power and efficacy 
of Christianity, says, " Who would not believe it when he sees in 
how short a time it has conquered so great a part of the world, 
when men of so great wit and parts, orators, grammarians, rheto- 
ricians, lawyers, physicians, and philosophers, have thrown up those 
former sentiments, of which but a little before they were so tena- 
cious, and have embraced the doctrine of the gospel." Advers. 
Gent. lib. ii. p. 21. 

" Theodoret, (An. 440.) discoursing against the Gentiles, of the 
excellency of the laws of Christ, above any that were given by the 
best philosophers, or wisest heathens ■; instances whole nations whom 
Christianity had reclaimed from the most brutish and savage man- 
ners. " So great a change did the laws of Christ make in the man- 
ners of men, and so easily were the most barbarous nations per- 
suaded to receive them ; a thing which Plato, though the best of all 
philosophers, could never effect among the Athenians, his own 
fellow citizens ; who could never induce them to govern the com- 
monwealth according to those laws and institutions which he had 
prescribed them." De Curand. Grcec. affectib. Serm. 9. de Leg. p» 
128. — See their barbarous manners detailed in Cic. Tusc. I. i. s. xlv. 

Minutius Felix, refuting the calumnies of the Gentiles against 
Christianity, (An. 230.) says, " We Christians do not measure wis- 
dom by men's habits, but by the minds and tempers, and do not 
speak great things, but live them ; having this to boast of, that we 
really attain to those things, which the philosophers earnestly 
sought, but could not find." Dial. p. SI. 

Lactantius, discoursing of the heathen wickedness, says, «« Whieh 



74 The Christian's Manual. 



of these things can be objected to our people, whose whole religion 
is to live without spot or blemish." De Justit. I. v. c. ix. p. 485. 

" The Christian religion, considered in its primitive simplicity, 
and as taught in the Holy Scriptures, has all the marks and proofs 
of its being actually and truly a divine revelation, that any divine 
revelation, supposing it was true, could reasonably be imagined or 
desired to have." Clarke, ib. p. 220. 

" The practical duties which the Christian religion enjoins, are 
all such as are most agreeable to our natural notions of God, and 
most perfective of the nature, and conducive to the happiness and 
well-being of men : that is, Christianity even in this single respect, 
as containing alone and in one consistent system, all the wise and 
good precepts, (and those improved, augmented and exalted to the 
highest degree of perfection,) that ever were taught singly and scat- 
teredly, and many times but very corruptly, by the several schools 
of the philosophers ; and this without any mixture of the fond, 
absurd and superstitious practices of any of those philosophers ; 
ought to be embraced and practised by all rational and considering 
Deists, who will act consistently, and steadily pursue the conse- 
quences of their own principles ; as at least the best scheme, and sect 
of philosophy, that ever was set up in the world ; and highly pro- 
bable, even though it had no external evidence, to be of divine ori- 
ginal."* Ib.p. c 222. 

" The motives by which the Christian religion enforces the prac- 
tice of the duties it enjoins, are such as are most suitable to the 
excellent wisdom of God, and most answerable to the natural ex- 
pectations of men." lb. p. 232. 

" The peculiar manner and circumstances, with which the Chris- 
tian religion enjoins the duties, and urges the motives, before men- 
tioned, are exactly consonant to the dictates of sound reason, or 
the unprejudiced light of nature ; and most wisely perfective of it." 
Ib. 239. 

" As this revelation, to the judgment of right and sober reason, 
appears even of itself highly credible and probable ; and abundantly 
recommends itself in its native simplicity, merely by its own intrin- 
sic goodness and excellency, to the practice of the mpst rational 
and considering men, who are desirous in all their actions to have 
satisfaction, and comfort and good hope, within themselves, from 
the conscience of what they do ; so it is moreover positively and 



Rule I. The Necessity of Faith. 75 



directly proved, to be actually and immediately sent us from God; 
by the many infallible signs and miracles, which the author of it 
worked publicly as the evidence of his divine commission ; by the 
exact completion both of the prophecies that went before concern- 
ing him, and of those that he himself delivered concerning things 
that were to happen after ; and by the testimony of his followers ; 
which in all its circumstances was the most credible, certain, and 
convincing evidence, that was ever given to any matter of fact in 
the world." lb. 296. 

" Lastly, they who will not, by the arguments and proofs before 
mentioned, be convinced of the truth and certainty of the Christian 
religion, and be persuaded to make it the rule and guide of all their 
actions ; would not be convinced, (so far as to influence their prac- 
tice, and reform their lives,) by any other evidence whatsoever ; no 
not though one should rise on purpose from the dead (Luke xvi. 
31.) to endeavour to convince them." lb. SS6. 

Truth will force its way upon our death-bed — at that awful 
period the Christian is calm, free from torturing doubts. 

The profligate Earl of Rochester, previous to his conversion, 
confessed, " that whether the business of religion was true or not, 
he thought those who had the persuasions of it, and lived so that 
they had quiet in their conscience, and believed God governed the 
world, and acquiesced in his providence, and had hopes of an end- 
less blessedness in another state, the happiest men in the world ; 
and said he would give all that he was master of, to have those 
persuasions, and the supports and joys that must follow from them." 

** After hearing the 53d chapter of Isaiah, and comparing itwith 
the history of our Saviour's passion, he felt an inward force, which 
so enlightened his mind, and convinced him, that he could resist it 
no longer." 

He heartily repented of his impiety, implored forgiveness, and 
died in a firm belief of Christianity, 26 July, 1680. Vide Burjiet, 
Life of Rochester. 

Addison on his death-bed sent for Lord Warwick, a young man 
of very irregular life and loose opinions ; and when his Lordship 
with great tenderness desired to hear his last injunctions, told him, 
" I have sent for you, that you may see how a Christian can die." 
" The chamber where the good man meets his fate 
Is privilcg'd beyond the common walk 



76 The Christian's Manual. 



Of virtuous life, quite in the verge of Heav'n. 

Fly ye profane ! if not, draw near with awe." Young, Night ii. 

Grotius, after producing irrefragable evidence of the truth of 
Christianity, says, " These arguments are drawn from matter of 
fact ; we come now to those which are drawn from the nature of 
the doctrine ; certainly all manner of worship of God must be 
rejected, which can never enter into any man's mind, who has any 
sense of the existence of God, and of his government of the creation ; 
and who considers the excellency of man's understanding, and the 
power of choosing moral good or evil, with which he is endued, and 
consequently, that the cause as well of reward as punishment is in 
himself; or else he must receive this religion, not only upon the 
testimony of the facts, which we have now treated of, but likewise 
for the sake of those things that are intrinsical in religion, since 
there cannot be any produced, in any age or nation, whose rewards 
are more excellent, or whose precepts are more perfect, or the mtr 
thod in which it was commanded to be propagated more wonder- 
ful." Grotmts, lib. 2. s. 8. 

Clarke, in answer to the question, why are you a Christian ? says, 
" Not because I was born in a Christian country and educated in 
Christian principles ; not because I find an illustrious Bacon, Boyle, 
Clarke, and Newton, among the professors and defenders of Chris- 
tianity ; not merely because the system itself is so admirably calcu- 
lated to mend and exalt human nature ; but because the evidence 
accompanying the gospel has convinced me of its truth," 

" That there was a general expectation that at Judea a person 
should arise to be governor of the world, is expressly affirmed by 
Suetonius and Tacitus ; that such a person as Jesus of Nazareth 
lived there, is acknowledged by all authors, Jewish and Pagan." 
Tacitus, lib. 2]. 

The star at his birth, and the journey of the wise men, is men- 
tioned by Chalcidius, the Platonist, in his commentary on Timasus. 
See Le Clerc's Grotius, lib. 3. s, 1 4. 

Herod ordering all children under two years of age to be de- 
stroyed, is related by Macrobius, hb.9. c. 4. 

« The miracles are related by Celsus, (see book ii. of Origen) and 
Julian, (see book vi. of Cyril) and the authors of the Jewish Talmud, 
the most implacable enemies of Christianity." Grotius, lib. 2. s. 5. 

« The crucifixion is mentioned by Tacitus." Bookxv* 



Rule I. The Necessity of faith, W 

mulgated by the holy prophets ; (a) sealed by the blood of the 
martyrs ; * believed by pious men for ages ; delivered by Christ 
incarnate in word, and obeyed in deed ; (b) ratified by- 
miracles ; (c) 2 acknowledged with horror by devils ; (d) and 
lastly, which are so consistent with the law of nature, and with 
themselves, and produce such important effects upon those who 



1 Justin Martyr, a Platonic Philosopher, convinced by the virtue 
and courage of the martyrs, of the truth of Christianity, > embraced 
it. Ajpol. I. p. 50. (An. 155) 

When Polycarp, disciple to St. John, and Bishop of Smyrna, 
was at the place of execution, and the proconsul endeavoured to 
persuade him to renounce Christ, saying, «• I will order you to be 
consumed by fire unless you change your mind" — -Polycarp replied 
** you threaten with a fire that burns for an hour ; but are igno- 
rant of that fire of the future judgment, and eternal punishment, 
which is reserved for the impious. But why delay ? order which 
you will*" When they wished to nail him to the stake, he said, 
" Let me be as I am, for he that gives me strength to endure the 
fire, will also grant that I shall continue within the pile unmoved 
and undisturbed, by reason of my pain, even without your securing 
me with nails." (An. 170.) Euseb. Hist. Eccles. Lib. iv. c. xv. 

Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who suffered martyrdom in the 
eleventh year of Trajan, said, "Let fire, the cross, the assaults of 
wild beasts, the pulling asunder of bones, the cutting off limbs, the 
stamping in pieces of the whole body, the punishment of the devil 
come upon me, so that I may obtain Jesus Christ." lb. lib. iii. c. 
xxxvi. 

Dionysius Areopagita, a noble Athenian, who was converted by 
St. Paul, (Acts xvii. 34.) and ordained Bishop of Athens, at 
the place of execution exclaimed, "O Lord God Almighty, 
thou only begotten Son, and holy spirit, O sacred Trinity which 
art without beginning, and with whom is no division, receive the 
soul of thy servant in peace, who is put to death for thy cause and 
gospel." (An. 96. aged 110.) 

2 " The true definition of a miracle, in the theological sense of 

(«) Luke xvi. 31. 2 Peter i. 20, 21. (b) Matt, xxvii. 35. 
(c) Matt. viii. (d) Mark i. 24. 



78 The Christian's Manual. 

read them with attention and reverence. * If these great argtw 
ments are compatible with no other writings, what imprudence 
to waver in our faith ? Reason only by analogy. Did not the 
prophets foretel wonderful things of Christ ? (e) And which 
of them was not fulfilled ? And shall he who deceived you 
not in those events, deceive you in other matters ? If by such 
thoughts as these you often fan the holy flame of faith, and 
beseech God to give you an increase thereof, I should wonder 
if you could continue vicious. What man can be so desperately 
wicked, as not to start back and abhor sin, if he believes, that 



the word, is this ; that it is a work effected in a manner unusual, 
or different from the common and regular method of Providence, 
by the interposition either of God himself, or of some intelligent 
agent superior to man ; for the proof or evidence of some particular 
doctrine, or in attestation to the authority of some particular person. 
And if a miracle so worked, be not opposed by some plainly 
superior power ; nor be brought to attest a doctrine either contra- 
dictory in itself, or vitious in its consequences ; (a doctrine of which 
kind, no miracles in the world can be sufficient to prove ;) then the 
doctrine so attested must necessarily be looked upon as divine, and 
the worker of the miracle entertained as having infallibly a com- 
mission from God." Clarke Evidences of Natural, and Revealed 
Religion p. 316. 

" There can be nothing plainer in the world than that God 
purposed to give his Son Jesus, and his Apostles credit with the 
people to whom they were sent, by giving them the power of work- 
ing miracles ; that is, God intended the people should believe 
Christ, and his Apostles declaring the will of God, upon the 
account of the miracles they saw them work, which works no man 
could do, excepting God were with him." Fleetwood On Miracles? 
p. 157. 

1 " What religion can be truer, more useful, powerful, just than 
this, which renders men meek, speakers of truth, modest, chaste, 
charitable and kind to all, as if most nearly related." Arnobius 
advers. gent, lid, 4>. p. 67. (An. 297.) 

(a) Num. xxiv. 17. Ps. xxii. lxix. 21. Isai. xlii. 



Rule II. Of Irresolution. 79 

by a few momentary gratifications here, he incurs, not only the 
pangs of a bad conscience, but eternal torments : [a] and that 
good men, by a few privations and light afflictions, will obtain 
not only the manifold blessings of a good conscience here, but 
a happy immortality hereafter ? (b) 



RULE II. 

Of Irresolution. 



Repose entire confidence in the promises of God: and 
seriously resolve to run the race of salvation, (c) and be content 
to part with life or fortune for the sake of Christ. When you 
aim at this high mark, let not your friends, the allurements of 
the world, nor your business divert your purpose. The chain 
of worldly affairs must be cut, whenever it cannot be dis- 
entangled, (d) l The flesh pots of Egypt must be no temptation 



1 " It is not enough to begin for a little while except we persevere 
in the fear of the Lord all the days of our lives, for in a moment 
we shall be taken away ; take heed therefore that you do not make 
a pastime of, or disesteem the word of God. Blessed are they that 
whilst they have tongues use them to God's Glory." Edward 
Deering (died An. 1576.) 

" The censure of preciseness and singularity, which the men of 
this world commonly charge upon good men, and the hatred and 
spite, wherewith they prosecute them, upon that very account, are 
both of them utterly senseless and extremely absurd. This has 

(a) Matt. xxv. 41, 46. (b) Heb. xii. 1- 3. 

(r) 1 Cor. ix. 34. (d) Mark viii. 34—38. 



80 The Christian's Manual. 

to return, (a) You must flee out of Sodom without looking 
back; for the woman looked behind and perished, (b) Lot, 
her husband, ventured not to stay in any part of the flat coun- 
try, but escaped in all haste to the mountain, as he was com- 
manded. The prophet cries, Jlee out of the midst of Babylon z (c) 



been an old grudge ; a very high charge indeed, and as notable an 
inference ; he lives otherwise, and better than we do, and therefore 
we must hate, and persecute him ; but this I say is a very absurd 
and unreasonable way of proceeding, for the ground of the business 
if sifted to the bottom comes to no more than this : they are angry 
with a man for not loving their company so well, as to be content 
to be damn'd for the sake of it ; but I think we may with great 
civility beg their excuse in this matter ; if they will have us do as 
they do, then let them take care to do as they should do. But for 
a man to make himself a beast utterly unfit to be conversed with, 
and then to call me singular and unsociable because I wont keep 
him company, is hard measure : and as these men are guilty of an 
unreasonable charge, so shall we be guilty of an inexcusable folly 
and weakness, if we depart from our duty and our greatest interest, 
upon such a trifling inconsiderable discouragement. For then 'tis 
plain that we are of the number of those low and inconsiderate 
spirits that love the praise of men more than the praise of God. 
John xii. 43. * 

" Let us not therefore be led away with noise and popularity, 
nor be frightened from our duty by l those empty anathemas of the 
multitude, the censure of unsociableness, preciseness and singularity. 
Let us be sure by doing our duty to satisfy our own consciences, 
whatever others do, or think. Let us not be carried away in the 
polluted torrent of the age, nor be fools for company; let us for 
once dare to be wise and be guilty of the great singularity of doing 
well, and of acting like men and christians; and then, if we can 
have the liking and approbation of the world, well ; if not, the com- 
fort is we shall not much want it : And we shall gain something 
by our singularity, which the others cannot by their numbers, the 
fawor of God, and deliverance from the wrath to come ! ! !" Norris> 
Practical Discourses k jol. ii.p. 68. 

(a) Exodus xvi. 3. (6) Gen. xix. 17—26. (c) Jerem. li. 6. 



Rule II. Of Irresolution. SI 

and the going out of Egypt is called a flight, (a) We are 
commanded to flee out of Babylon^ not to depart gradually and 
unobserved. l We see most men irresolutely postponing their 
departure from vice : (b) when we have finished such or such 
an affair, or are delivered out of such and such troubles, say they, 
we will amend our lives. Boast not thyself of tomorrow, (c) % 
Are you to be told, that one business brings on another ? and 
that vice generates vice ? Why not effect that to day, which 
the sooner it is done, is the more easy ? Other things re- 
quire diligence, but this the utmost speed, (d) 3 Do not weigh 



1 Hierom {An. 400) in the sixth Book of his commentary on 
Ezekiel c. 20. says, " when we depart out of Egypt we must refine 
our inclinations, and change our delights into aversions." 

Ambrose observed, " When gold is offered, we do not say, we 
will come tomorfpw and take it, but are glad of presentpossession ; 
but salvation being offered to our souls, few men hasten to embrace 
it." {died An. 397.) 

*< Who would not tremble to hang over some vast precipice, 
wherein if he fell lie was certain to be dashed into a thousand 
pieces, and that by so weak a supporter as a thread ; this, or in 
truth much greater, is the danger of him who is in mortal sin, who 
hangs over hell by the thread of life, a twist so delicate, that not a 
knife, but the wind, and the least fit of sickness, breaks it ; wonder- 
ful is the danger where he stands who continues but one minute in 
mortal sin. Death has time enough to shoot his arrow, the speak- 
ing of a word, the twinkling of an eye suffices." Jer. Taylor, 
Contemp. lib. i. p. 15. 

z " Remember, though God promises forgiveness to repentant 
sinners, he does not promise they shall have to morrow to repent 
in. Make much of time, especially in the mighty matter of salva- 
tion. " Thomas Aquinas (died An. 1274.) 

3 Peter and Andrew «' straightway left their nets and followed 
him." Matt. iv. 18. 20. James and John « immediately left their 
ships and foljpwed him." Matt. iv. 21. 22. Paul " conferred not 
ivith ficsh and blood t but obeyed God" Gal. i. 16. 

(a) Deut. xvi. 3. (b) Ephes. iv. 22— 32. (0 Pr r . . xxvii. 1. 

(r/) Ps. cxix. 00. Ephes. v. U. 
Ch. Ma. . p 



52 The Christian's Manual. 

how much hi this case you may lose, for Christ will more than 
repay you. Trust in him; casting all your care upon him ? for 
he caret h for yau, (a) he will receive, (b) and lead you; and 
you may say with the psalmist, The Lord is my shepherd ; I 
shall not "want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures : 
he leadeth me beside the still waters, (c) 

You cannot « serve two masters " (d) for what concord 
hath Christ with Belial ? {e) Christ is a jealous lover of 
souls, and will not bear a rival in the possession of that, 
which he has redeemed with his blood. He will not admit of 
partnership with the devil, whom he overcame, if) There are 
but two ways ; the one, by following our lusts, leadeth to 
destruction ,- the other, by mortification of the flesh, leadeth 
unto life. What room for doubt, when there is no third way ? 
one of these two you must follow ; — whoever thou art, or what- 
soever thy condition, the narrow way is that which thou shouldst 
go, though few there be that find it. (g) Christ, and all that 
have pleased God have walked in this path, and this only. 

We must die unto this world, ' as Christ died, for if we be 
dead with him, we shall also live with him: if we suffer we 
shall also reign with him : if we deny him, he also will deny 
us. (h) What fools then to impose upon ourselves in a thing 
of such great moment ? One says I am a layman, and 
not a divine, and must make what use I can of the world. 
Another thinks though he is a priest he is no monk. The 
monk likewise cries, though I am a monk, yet such and such 
people are monks of a stricter order. Another says, I am 

1 " We are to renounce the pomp and vanities of this wicked 
world, the meaning of which is, not that the world which God hath 
created, or any of its natural enjoyments are evil, but the thing} 
to be renounced are the evil customs of the world, the vicious 
fashions, and the corrupt practices that prevail in it." Clarke, 
£xpo« • Catech. p. 25. s. % 

(a) i [\ ter v. 7. (b) Ps. xxxvii. 5 — 10. (c) Ps. xxiii. 4. 

(d) Matt, \' 1 2i - ( c ) 2 Cor ' vi - 15 ' (f^ John xvL 33 ' 

(ii) Matt v r[ ' l3 ' 14, W 2 Tim. ii. 11, 12- Gal. vi. 14, 15. 



Rule II. Of Irresolution. 83 

young, rich, noble, a courtier, yes, and a king ; it signifies 
nothing to me, what Christ preached 'to his Apostles. But is 
it then nothing to you, to be in Christ ? for if you are in the 
world, you are not in Christ : [a] — in some sense we are all in 
the world, if by the world be meant, the earth, the sea, and 
the air. But if ambition, luxury, covetousness, and lust be the 
world, (b) in the scripture sense, then you cannot be of this 
world, and a christian. Christ proclaimed to all alike, he that 
taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of 
me. (c) It is vain to expect the same reward with others, 
and to be exempt from the difficulties by which that reward is 
to be attained ; to triumph with the captain of our salvation, 
without suffering with him. Look not round you, dear brother, 
to see what others do, l and to flatter yourself upon a compari- 
son, (d) It is what very few are versed in, to die unto the world ; 
to die unto sin ; to die to the desires of the flesh. Yet this is 
the constant profession of all who call themselves christians. 
This is the oath which you have taken in baptism, the most 
solemn oath that can be. And we must all perish everlastingly 
or take this way to salvation. 



» «* Neither be partakers of other men's sins ; keep thyself pure" 
1 Tim. v. 22. 

Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, 
fall from your steadfastness. 2 Peter iii. 17. 

(«) 1 John ii. 15. (t>) James iv. 4. 1 John v. 19. 

(c) Mutt. x. 33. (d$ 1 Cor. x. it 



Si The Christian's Manual. 



kule III. 

The comparative ease, and happiness of a religious^ and 
irreligious life, 

1 His rule is calculated to prevent your turning aside out of the 
path of virtue, displeased with its seeming roughness ; or be- 
cause you are obliged to renounce the advantages of the world ; 
or are weary of the continual conflict, which you must maintain 
against the three most inveterate enemies of mankind, the devil, 
the flesh, and the world. 

If, regardless of false appearances, you examine, you will find 
that the christian institution is not only the way to everlasting 
felicity, but exclusive of the promised reward, her ways are 
ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace, (a) I 

The men that to raise a fortune have had no respect to right 



1 " A Christian excels all in his fortitude, in his hope, in his 
chanty, in his fidelity." Feltham Resolves by Cujnming 9 p. 227. 
" Religion's all. Descending from the skies 
To wretched man, the goddess in her left 
Holds out this world, and, in her right the next. 
Religion ! the sole voucher man is man; 
Supporter sole of man above himself; 
E'en in this night of frailty, change, and death, 
She gives the soul a soul that acts a God. 
Religion ! Providence ! an after state I 
Here is firm footing ; here is solid rock : 
This can support us ; all is sea besides ; 
Sinks under us; bestorms, and then devours. 
His hand the good man fastens on the skies, 
And bids earth roll, nor feels her idle whirl." 

Young, Night iv. 

(a) Prov. iii. 7. Ps.cxix. 165. Jer. vi. 16. Matt. vi. 33. Rom. vin. 
g&. 1 Tim* iv. 8—10. 



Rule III. Of a religious Life. 85 

or wrong, (a) l and exposed their reputations and lives to a 
thousand dangers, for what idle and momentary things have 
they toiled ? Their cares are so far from being brought to a 
happy issue, that the longer they have labored the more is their 

" Virtue and goodness are truly amiable and to be chosen for 
their own sakes, and intrinsic worth, though a man had no prospect 
of gaining any particular advantage to himself, by the practice of 
them." 

1 "An honest man will do that which he judges right, though 
it be dangerous ; he will not be deterred from that which is honest 
by any means ; he will not be allured to that which is dishonest bj 
any means. 

Fulgentius observed, "If they go to hell who do not feed the 
hungry, clothe the naked, &c. what will become of those that take 
bread from the hungry, clothes from the naked, &c. If want of 
charity be tormented in hell, what will become of the covetous V 
(died An. 529.) 

" In contracts every thing should be discovered, not the least 
circumstance concealed from the buyer, that the seller knows." 

" Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness) and 
his chambers by iwong ; that useth his neighbour's service xuithout 
iwges, and giveth him not for his work" Jer.xxii. 13. 

How forcibly does this solemn denunciation apply to incurring 
debts without the means of paying them ! 

One is liberal to his relations, friends, or acquaintance, instead of 
being just to his creditors. The unthinking world flatters him 
with the name of generous ; if a moralist censures such a character, 
he is told, O he is a very good tempered person ; as to his affairs 
they do not affect us ! 

Another riots in every excess, covers himself with the slime of 
vice, dissipates his property, and says, I am no man's enemy but 
my own. It is most true, he is the greatest enemy to himself, 
because he debases the digrity of his nature, and endangers the 
salvation of his soul ; but he is also the enemy to the happiness of 
his sorrowful relations, and the comforts of his indigent fellow 
creatures — No condition or fortune can excuse a man from the 
performance of his relative duties to society. 

(«) Jer. xvii. 11. Matt. xvi. 2q\ 



86 The Christian's Manual, 

uneasiness. And what is the consequence of a life so restless ? 
eternal torment. 

Estimate this with a life of virtue that presently ceases to be 
disagreeable, grows more pleasant, and ultimately conducts us 
to our greatest happiness. Would it not be the height of mad- 
ness, to take as much pains to be wretched, as to be for ever 
happy ? Yet some there are that choose to take infinite pains to 
obtain misery, (a) rather than to make a proportionate trifling 
exertion for everlasting bliss. Whereas Christ says, Take my yoke 
Upon you, and ye shall find rest unto your soids : for my yoke is 
easy, and my burden is light, (b) No pleasure can be wanting, 
where there is a good conscience ; (c) no miserv absent where 
there is a bad one. (d) If you are not convinced of this, ask 
those who have been converted from a sinful course unto the 
Lord ; and they will tell you that nothing can be more uneasy 
and irksome than sin ; nothing more agreeable and delightful 
than obedience. No man can resolve to be good, but he may 
be so. (e) When you renounce the sinful and hollow advantages 
of the world, you will exchange them for substantial good. 
Who would not willingly give silver for gold, a flint for a gen>? 
Are your friends disgusted with you ? You will find better. 
Must you give up frivolous amusements ? You will enjoy 
those internal delights, (f) which are much more pure, grateful 
and certain. Must you suffer in your estate ? That wealth 
will increase, which " neither moth nor rust doih corrupt, and 
'where thieves do not break through and steal" (g) Does the 
world despise you ? Christ approves you : (/z, * though few, 
yet the best men are pleased with you. All blessings are annexed 

1 " He that is well with his Maker, can never be uneasy within 
himself ; for the love and protection of the Almighty supports 
him against all the malice of wicked men." Erasmus, in the old 
man's Colloquy. 

(a) Jer. ix. 5. (*) Matt. xi. 23—30. (c) 2 Cor. i. 12. Gal.vi. 4. 

(r/) Prov.xxviii. 1. Jsai. lvii.21. Job vii. 13, 20. 
(e) Psalm xxv. 8. ( f ) John xiv. 27- Ps. iv. 8. (g) Matt. vi. 20. 

(/<) l Peter iv. i-1. 



Rule III. Of a Religious Life. 87 

to those who « seek first the kingdom ofGod;" (a) Let what 
will come, nothing can render those miserable that love God ; 
whose losses are gains ; (b) l whose dishonors are honors ; 
whose pains are pleasures ; whose afflictions are joys ; and 
whose evils are in the event blessings. 7 ' Can you then hesitate 
to cast away the wicked vanities and practices of the world, 
and pursue a virtuous course of life, when the one bears no 
comparison with the other ; whether we compare God and the 
devil, the different hopes, rewards, hardships, and consolations ? 



1 " Some never look towards heaven, but when God casts them 
on their back ; I mean, reduces them to poverty, and misery ; God 
then dams up outward comforts, that the stream of our affections 
may run faster another way." Allestree. 

a " In all things we should resign ourselves to the will of God, 
It is the will of our sovereign Lord, who upon various indisputable 
accounts hath a just right to govern us, and an absolute power to 
dispose of us ; ought we not therefore to say with old Eli, 1 Sam. 
iii. 18. i it is the Lord ; lei him do vohat seemeth him good! " 

" Is it not extreme iniquity, is it not monstrous arrogance for 
us, in derogation to his will, to pretend giving law or picking a 
station to ourselves ; do we not manifestly incur high treason 
against the king of Heaven by so invading his office, usurping his 
authority, snatching his sceptre into our hands, and setting our wills 
in his throne." Barroto, On Resignation. 

" If then the naked charms of truth you'd view, 
And to her throne the ready path pursue ; 
Of hopes, and fears, discharge thy manly breast, 
Nor be by joys transported, grief oppress'd." Boethts. 

(a) Matt. vi. 33. (/;) Isai. xlviii. 10. Heb. xii. 5. Rom. v. 3. 

Ps. cxix. 67, 71. 



SS The Christian's Manual, 

RULE IV. 

That Christ is the End qf all 1 Jungs. 

jL he surest road to happiness, is to make Christ the centre of 
all your actions : to him let your endeavours and even your 
amusements tend, [a) l Whosoever is intent upon virtue draws 



1 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or icJuitsoever ye do, do all to 
the glory of God. 1 Cor. x. 31. 

Erasmus discoursing on the propriety of saying a grace before 
dinner observes, " The very Pagans used a kind of reverence in 
this case:" and subjoins this favorite grace of Chrysostom's. 
" Blessed be thou, O God, who hast fed me from my youth, and 
provideth food for all flesh ; fill our hearts with joy, and gladness, 
that partaking plentifully of thy bounty, we may abound to every 
good work, through Jesus Christ our Lord, with whom to thee, 
and the Holy Ghost, be. glory, honor, and power, world without 
end, Amen." Colloquy, The Religious Treat. 

M. D'Arnay remarks, " The Romans always began by libations, 
which consisted in pouring a little wine upon the table in honor of the 
Gods, and was accompanied with some prayers. It was a custom 
of the highest antiquity, as we see in Homer and Virgil ; it was 
even repeated at the end of the meal." 

" This religious respect was a public profession whereby the 
Pagans acknowledged to hold all their possessions of the divinity. 
What a reproach for Christians, who, notwithstanding the religious 
custom received from all ages, regardless even of the precept of 
the Apostle, of directing all our actions to the glory of God, whe- 
ther we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, neglect to sanctify in 
some way the beginning and end of their repasts by prayer and 
thanks !" The Private Life of the Romans, c. iii. 

(<j) Col. iii. 17. Phil. iii. 3. John xiv. gi. 



Rule IV. Christ the End of all Things. 89 

■near to Christ ; ' as whosoever is a slave to his lusts, is a servant 
of the Devil's. (a) Therefore let your eye he single, and your 
whole body will be full of light ; (b) and be it fixed upon Christ, 
as the sovereign good. 

If in your way to Christ you. meet any thing that courts 
your esteem, yield no more of it, than will advance your main 
design. Of this kind there are degrees. Some things are 
naturally good : such as to be charitable to all men, to assist 
one's friends by fair means, z to hate vice, and to love godly 



1 " As the practice of virtue Is circumstanced in this world, it is 
plain it is not in itself the chief good, but only a means to it, as 
running a race is not itself the prize, but the way to obtain it." 

Bernard said, " Lord, we follow thee, because thou art the truth, 
the way, and the life." (died An. 1 152.) 

Sir Philip Sidney, upon his death bed, thus exhorted his friends, 
« govern your will, and affections, by the will, and word of your 
Creator, in me beholding the end of this world, with all its 
vanities." 

When mortally wounded at the battle of Zutphen, and raising a 
cup of water to his feverish lips, he perceived an expiring soldier 
anxiously look to it, he gave it him, saying, " Thy necessity is 
yet greater than mine ! ! !" (died Oct. 1586.) 

2 How frequently is it nnblushingly remarked, I knew it was 
wrong, and rather unfair, but I did it to serve a friend, or relative. 
So depraved are our morals. The man who acts thus will embrace 
the like dishonorable means to promote his own interested views. 
What right has he to the noble character of an honest man ? Who 
can repose confidence where such principles reside ? Integrity 
stands firm on the strong basis of religion and morality, and 
receives worldly assaults upon the broad shield of duty. No con- 
nexion however endearing can discharge our prior obligations to 
God and mankind. We must never resign our rectitude. 

When Charicles, son in law to the excellent Phocion, was justly 
arraigned for accepting a bribe, and entreated Phocion to assist 
him in his defence, he magnanimously refused, saying, " I will 

{a) John viii. 44. (6) Mutt. vi. 22-. 



90 The Christian's Manual, 

conversation. T There is a difference in knowledge ; for though 
all may contribute, yet one is more directly conducive to chris- 
tian piety than another. By this end you are to value every 
thing. If you love knowledge only, that you may be esteemed 
a learned person, you err : a but if you admire it because it 
promotes your improvement, or enables you to expound the scrip- 
tures and to bring yourself and others to delight therein ; then 
apply closely to your studies, but carry them no further, than 
you think they may be serviceable to the cause of virtue, {a) 3 

espouse your cause as my son in law, only in things just and 
honorable ! ! !" 

1 Erasmus in his Colloquy *' The Religious Treat" recommends 
pious conversation, observing, " it pleases me so much the better, 
because it diverts vain and frivolous discourse, and affords matter 
of profitable conversation. I am not of their mind, who think no 
entertainment diverting that does not abound with foolish obscene 
stones, and licentious songs ; there is pure joy springs from an un- 
sullied conscience, and those are the happy conversations, where such 
things are mentioned, that we can reflect upon with satisfaction 
and delight ; and not such as we shall blush for, and have occasion 
to repent of. It were well if we were all as careful to consider 
these things, as we are sure they are true : and besides, they have 
not only a certain advantage, but one month's use would also make 
them pleasant : therefore the best course we can take, is to accustom 
ourselves to that which is most good." 

'" " Knowledge, and a good life are both profitable, yet if both 
cannot be obtained ; a good life is to be preferred to much know- 
ledge." Isidore (died A. D* 675.) 

" Suppose a man adorned with the knowledge of every thing 
that is most curious and exquisite in the sciences, philosophy, 
mathematics, history, the belles lettres, poetry and eloquence. All 
these make a man learned, but do not make him good. * Non 
faciunt bonos ista sed doctos.' Senec* Ep. 106. And if a man be 
only learned, what is he very often but a vain, obstinate creature, 
lull of himself, and despising all others, and in one word an animal 
o^ glory." Roliiit, Belies Lettres. b. iv.pl. 1. s. vi. 

3 " Those things which God would have searched into are not 

(n) l Peter iv. 10, 11. Col. iii. 16. 



Rule IV. Christ the End of all Things. 9 1 

If your piety be endangered by wealth, rather let go the 
sordid lucre, than suffer it to impede your progress to 
Christ, (a) This will be done the more easily, if you have 
accustomed yourself to despise the things that are without, that 
is, such as have no relation to the inner man. By which means 
you will not be too much elated, if possessed of wealth ; nor 
depressed, if it be denied, or taken from you, (b) as you place 
your happiness in Christ alone. But if fortune smile, though you 
never solicited her favors, this ought to make you more cautious ; 
because though you have an opportunity of exercising your 



to be neglected, but those which God would have concealed are 
not to be searched into. By the latter we become unlawfully- 
curious, and by neglect of the former exceedingly ungrateful." 
Prosper, (died A. D. 466.) 

" Pry not, fond man, too near th' eternal throne, 
Nor search for mysteries to all unknown ; 
Enough is known, beheld with pious eyes, 
T* approve the great Creator just and wise.' , Boetius* 
Erasmus in 1522 published the "Works of Hilary," and dedi- 
cated them to Joannes Carondeletus, Bishop of Palermo. Jortin 
remarks, this dedication is an excellent composition. 

" After having observed, that the master piece of Hilary is his 
Treatise on the Trinity, he takes notice, that this father complaii::^ 
of being under a necessity of speaking concerning things incompre- 
hensible, and most difficult to be expressed in proper language. 
Thus the ancients, says Erasmus, bespeak our favor and our can- 
dor, and it is fit that we should comply with their modest request. 
But with what forehead can we make the same petition, we who 
upon points far remote from our nature, and our conceptions, start 
so many curious, not to say impious, questions ? We who decide 
so dogmatically concerning things, of which a man may be either 
ignorant or doubtful, without risquing his salvation ? Shall a 
Christian be excluded from communion with the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Ghost, because he cannot explain metaphysically 
what distinguishes the Father from the Son, and what the Holy Ghost 
from them both ; what difference there is between the generation 

{a) Luke xii. 15. (!>) Job i. 31. Ilcb. xiii, 5. 



92 TJie Christian's Manual. 

virtue, yet it is ever attended with danger. " If you regard 
money as the greatest good, and pursue it with an anxious care, 
and are happy or miserable as you obtain or come short of it, 
you love it more than God. (a) The same may be said of 
honors, pleasures, health, and even life itself. Our zeal to 
follow Christ, ought to be so warm, that we should be com- 
paratively indifferent to other things. For The time is short s 
and it remaineth that they who use this world be as not abusing 
it : for the fashion of this world, passeth away, (/;) Therefore 
by this rule you are to frame your conduct. Do you follow 
any trade ? it is very wellj % if you are guilty of no fraud. 3 

of the Son, and the procession of the Spirit? If I believe what is 
taught me, that there are three of one nature, what occasion L.tve 
I for farther disputes ? and if I believe it not, human authority, 
will never persuade me of it. This dangerous and impertinent 
curiosity was introduced by the study of philosophy." Joriiri 
Vol i. ;;. 288. 

For Trinity Vide Gen. i. 26. John'i. xiv. xvii. 5. 1 John r. 
7. Beh. i. 2. Col. i. 15—19. 1 Cor. xv. 2£ 

1 S( If riches increase set not your heart upon them." Ps. lxii. 10. 

* w Jf 'any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his 
own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an irfdcL I 
Tim. v. 8. Let him that stole steal no more : but rather let him 
labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may 
have to give to him that nccdeth." Ephes. iv. 28. 2 Thess. iii. 10 — 12. 

Christ directs us to be satisfied with the necessaries of life, but 
does not prohibit industry ; he only forbids such greedy desire of 
gain as interferes with our duty to God and Man. Luke x,i. 1.5. 
Matt. xix. 23. 1 Tim. vi. 6—10. 

3 " Custom is mightily in the wrong, and by degrees has made a 
distinction between profit and honesty ; and settled it as a constant 
and received maxim « that a thing may be honest, without being 
profitable ;' and again < may be profitable without being honest,' the 
most pernicious error, and most destructive of all goodness, that 
ever could have crept into the minds of men. The greatest, 
however, and most eminent philosophers, have always been so strict 

(a) Ephes. v. 5. Col. iii. 5. i Qov. vi. 10. ^) 1 Cor. vii. 30. 



Rule IV. Christ the End of all Things. 93 



and severe in their writings as to make the three natures of justice, 
profit and honesty be blended, and interwoven together in reality, 
and distinguishable only by an act of the mind; for whatever is 
just, say they, the same is also profitable, and whatever is honest, 
the same is also just; from whence it follows, that whatever is 
honest, the same must be also profitable. Did people but consider 
this matter as they ought, they would not, as they now commonly 
do, admire a crafty and subtle sort of fellows, and esteem that 
wisdom which in truth is roguery. This error therefore should be 
wholly rooted out of the minds of men, and all should be taught, 
that if ever they hope to attain their ends they should not set about 
it by the ways of knavery and underhand dealings, but by justice 
and integrity in their designs and actions. " Cicero Offic. lib. 2. c. 3. 

"Let us lay 4own this therefore as a standing maxim, that what- 
ever is dishonest can never be profitable, though we should ^arrive 
at the full possession of all those advantages, w^ich we propose to 
obtain by it. 

" There is something of knavery in all false shows and hypocriti- 
cal pretences. Lying therefore should be banished from all busi- 
ness and commerce in the world : nor should sellers bring persons 
to bid high for their goods, and enhance the prices ; nor purchasers 
others to bid under value, and so beat them down lower." Jb. 
I. Hi. c. 15. 

" From the Romans we have that common saying, which is now 
by long usage become a proverb, by which they signify the faithful 
dealing and honesty of a man, ' He is one, that you may venture to 
play with at even and odd in the dark.' " lb. c. xix. 

Godwyn describes this game, " One holding nuts in his hand, 
another was to guess whether the number was even, or odd. This 
Horace calls, Luderepar impar." Roman Antiquities. /. 2* s. 3. c. 
13. It is frequently played with marbles. 

' Grotius remarks, " Cicearo seems to have borrowed this expression 
concerning lying from that old Attic law, ' in a market nothing 
ought to be spoken but truth/ In these cases the word mendacium 
comprehends all doubtful and ambiguous phrases. ,, Grotius, Of 
War and Peace, b. hi. c. i. s. x. 

The word mendacium 'likewise includes all gestures and Indica- 
tions, which deceive j for words are but signs of ideas, and actions 



94 The Christian's Manual. 



expressive thereof are equivalent — a dumb person may be as guilty 
of lying as any other. Aristides held truth so sacred, that he would 
not lie even in jest. We should scrupulously avoid any deception ; 
truth is too holy a thing to trifle with ; let us cease to distinguish 
falsehood by artificial shades, and always paint it in its proper color, 
black. "Neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another." Levit. 
xix. 11. " Keep thy lips from speaking guile" Ps. xxxiv. 13. " Where- 
fore Wittiag away lying* speak every man truth with his neighbour : 
for we are members one of another " Epbes. iv. 25. Col. iii. 9. 

Remember that no custom can authorise dishonesty, and that you 
must give an account to God ; and that if integrity does not make 
you rich, it will keep you from being miserable. 

" For this is the will of God, that no man go beyond and defraud Ms 
brother in any matter : because that the Lord is the avenger of all 
such." 1 Thess. iv. 3.6. "And if thou sell aught unto thy neigh- 
bour, or buy est aught of thy neighbour* s hand, ye shall not oppress one 
another." Levit. xxv. 14. Deut. xxv. 14-16. Prov. xi. 1. " A little 
that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked." 
Ps. xxxvii. 16. "Better is a little with righteousness, than great 
revenues without right." Prov. xvi. 8. 

Whoever, by false appearances or representations, obtains credit, 
although he may not be amenable to the laws, is morally guilty of 
swindling. The question is, would the merchant or trader have 
parted with his property if he had known my real circumstances ? 
if not, he has been imposed upon, good faith violated, and honesty 
and peace of conscience bartered for vile lucre. 

Some defraud government, and in justification, allege the large 
amount, or unreasonable nature of the tax. Let such consider Christ's 
command, " Render therefore unto Ccesar the things which are 
Ccesar's," Matt. xxii. 21. xvii. 27. and how unjustly they oblige their 
honest brethren to supply the deficiency in the public revenue, aris- 
ing from their knavery. 

How many encourage smuggling ! — in vindication they urge the 
rarity, exquisite workmanship, utility, or cheapness, of the article, 
without reflecting on their crime. Do they not transgress the laws, 
defraud the government, and induce the smuggler to continue an 
illegal occupation, and which frequently leads to murder. So pre- 
valent are the&e practices, that it is commonly affirmed, it is fair to 



Rule IV. Christ the End of at Things. 95 

Some Romanists 1 worship certain deceased religious men they 
call saints with particular ceremonies. One daily pays his res- 
cheat government : as if honesty was not of universal obligation — , 
Such as act thus, infringe their religious and moral integrity, and 
cease to be honest. 

Another wilfully negociates bad money, observing, I receivedit, 
and why am I to be a loser ? what a contemptible subterfuge ! 
What is this but defrauding our brother ? We ought to destroy 
base coin, and lose a little money, rather than our virtue ; besides 
if we circulate it, may it not get into the pocket of the poor laborer, 
as the reward of his toil, and be the only means of his appeasing 
the hungry cries of *his family. Unsuspicious, he offers it to the 
baker — it is refused, and himself and family deprived of sustenance — 
I will not paint their anguish — humanity must sigh. 

One avails himself of the strict letter of the law to oppress ; and 
when reproached for his iniquity, replies, I had the law on my side. 
What an infamous pretext for his villainy ! Municipal regulations 
cannot alter the eternal law of right and wrong, and every man 
should be the keeper of his own conscience, and appeal thereto, 
instead of referring to statutes and cases. 

Grotius remarks, " Seneca says, How deficient is that innocence, 
which is measured by the law only. Justice and faithfulness require 
such things of us, as no human law can oblige us unto." We may 
observe, that he distinguishes between jus and justitia, attributing 
to the former, that which the law enjoins ; but unto the latter, that 
which right reason and conscience dictate. < Of how much larger 
extent are the bounds of our duty one to another, than what is 
contained within the fence of the law ; how many things do piety, 
humanity, liberality, justice and fidelity require of us, which fall not 
under the commands of the public laws/ " Of War and Peace, b. iii. 
c. x. &. 1. 

If every human law was abrogated, the good man would conti- 
nue honest. 

1 Deluded Papists, attend to the admonition of St. Paul : " Jmar- 
vel, that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace 
of Christy unto another gospel." Gal. i. 6. 

How clearly is your, lamentable state foretold, « Beware of false 
prophets, tvhich come to you in sheep 1 s clothing, but inwardly they are 



9G The Christian's Manual. 

pects to Christopher ; with what view ? why because he is per- 
suaded, that he shall not die a violent death on that day. Ano- 



ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits" Matt. vii. 
15. 16. " Now the spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times, 
some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and 
doctrines of devils. Speaking lies in hypocrisy ; having their con- 
science seared with a hot iron ; forbidding to marry, and command- 
ing to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with 
thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. But refuse^ 
profeme and old wives' fables and exercise thyself rather unto godli- 
ness. 1 Tim. iv. 1-S. 7. " Let no man therefore judge you in meat, 
or in drink, or in respect of an holiday, or of the new moon, or of 
the sabbath days : Which are a shadow of things to come ; but the 
body is of Christ. (Touch not ; taste not ; handle not ; Which all 
are to perish with the using ;) after the commandments and doctrines 
■if men P Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will 
worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body, not in any honor 
to the satisfying qfthefejh." Col. ii. 16. 17. 21-23. " For the king- 
dom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and 
joy in the Holy Ghost. ." Rom. xlv. 17. 

How opposite to the pure precepts of the gospel is your religion ! 
and the pride of popes and priests to the humility of Christ and 
St. Peter. " And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Mas- 
ter, what shall I do to inherit eternal life ? And Jesus said unto 
him, why callest thou me good P none is good save one, that is, God." 
Luke xviii. 18. 19. " And call no man your Father upon the earth : 
for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called 
masters : for one is your master, even Gfirist." Matt, xxiii. 9. 10. 
" And the morrow after they entered into Ctcsarea ; and Cornelius 
waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and nearfriends. 
And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at 
his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, 
stpnd up ; I myself also am a man" Acts x. 24-26. 

When the disciples disputed for superiority, Christ reproved them. 
Mark ix. 34-. Luke xxii. 24. and Paul " withstood Peter^o the face 
because he was to be blamed," Gal. ii. 1 1 . In the first ages of Chris- 
tianity, each bishop exercised an exclusive jurisdiction in his diocese, 
and Christ was the only acknowledged head of the church (Ephes. 



Rule IV. Christ the End of all Things. 97 

ther prostrates himself before one Roch ; why ? because he 
believes he can drive away the plague. A third mutters a few 



i. 2 l 2. iv. 15, CoL i. 18.) When a point of difficulty arose, the bishop 
consulted others, or referred it to the decision of a general council. 

Your priests would keep you in darkness ; whereas Jesus Christ 
invites you to search the scriptures. " Search the Scriptures, Jbr in 
them ye think ye have eternal life ; and they are they which testify 
of me.*' John v. 39. St. Paul says, " These were more noble than 
those in Tkesmlonica, in that they received the word with all readi- 
ness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things 
were so," Acts xvii. 1 1 . 

Well did Augustine declare, * l Yet we must not approve what 
worthy men urge us to, but consider what is the judgment of the 
Scriptures, whether they oppose it or not." Epist. contra Gaudetius. 
For, as Dr. Doddridge well expresses it, " the cause of Christianity 
has greatly gained by debate, and the gospel comes like fine gold 
out of the furnace, which the more it is tried, the more it is ap- 
proved.'' 

" Idolatry is the principal of all the works of the Devil, and the 
«nost immediate and direct opposition to God ; this was the great 
enemy to Christianity at the first planting the gospel ; and though 
now under the name of heathenism, indeed, it be abolished in 
these parts of the world, yet there are even among those that call 
themselves Christians, some who, in direct opposition to the com- 
mand of God, worship images of wood and stone, and consecrated 
elements, and other imaginations of their own, instead of the maker 
and preserver of all things, even « the one God and Father of all, 
who is above all, and through all, and in us all ;' Ephes. iv. 6. and in 
direct contradiction to the design of the gospel, set up, and pray to, 
imaginary intercessors, angels and saints, and the blessed virgin, 
instead of praying in the name of him who is the * one Mediator be- 
tween God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 9 1 Tim. ii. 5. all which 
practices are manifest idolatry, worship paid to idol gods and idol 
mediators ; and indeed every thing is faulty of this kind, beside the 
worship of him alone, who created the world by his power, who 
redeemed mankind by his son, and who sanctifies all good persons 
by his holy spirit." Clarke, Expos, of the Catech. p. 24. 

Ck. Ma. G 



98 The Christian's Manual. 

prayers to George or Barbara, that he may not fall into the 
enemies' hands. This man keeps a fast to Apollonia, to prevent 



The most ancient council in Spain, Cone. Illiberinum cation. 1. 
(An. 305.) declares, " a man guilty of idolatry when he gives divine 
adoration to any thing that is not God ; not only when he worships 
a material idol, but when he worships any creature with that reli- 
gious respect and veneration that is only due to God." 

Gregory, (An. 370.) defines it " a translation of that worship that 
is due to the Creator, upon the creature.' , Naz. Orat. Paneg. In Xa- 
tiv. Christi. Or. 38. p. 620. 

The Laodicean council condemned the worship of angels : '* It 
is not lawful for Christians to leave the church of God, and to go 
and invocate angels, and to make prohibited assemblies ; if there- 
fore any one should be found devoting himself to this private idol- 
atry, let him be accursed, for as much as he has forsaken the Lord 
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and has delivered himself to idolatry." 
Canon 35. (An. 365). 

Origen (An. 230.) observes, " We refuse to give honor to those 
spirits that preside over human affairs, because we cannot serve 
two masters, namely, God and mammon: we speak well of angels, 
but yet do not give them that honor which is only due to God." 
Contra Cels. lib. 8. p. 415. " That the images that were to be dedi- 
cated to God were not to be carved by the hands of artists, but to be 
formed and fashioned in us by the word of God, viz. the virtues of 
justice and temperance, of wisdom and piety, &c. which conform 
us to the image of his only Son : these are the only statues formed 
in our minds, and by which alone we are persuaded it is fit to do 
honor to him, who is the image of the invisible God, the prototype, 
and archetypal pattern of all such images." Lib. S.p. 389. 

The Council of Illiberis in Spain (An. 305.) decreed, «< that no 
pictures ought to be in the church, nor any thing painted upon the 
walls that is worshipped or adored." Can. 36. p. 50. 

Augustine says, " We set apart no temples, nor priests, nor di- 
vine services, nor sacrifices to martys, because they are not God, 
but the same who is theirs, is our God ; indeed we honor their 
memories as of holy men." Be Civitate Dei, lib. S. c. 21. p. 49. vide 
lib. 22. c. 10. col. 1355. 



Rule IV. Christ tlie End of all Things. 99 

the tooth-ache. That goes to visit Job's images, to cure himself 
of a cutaneous disease. Some dedicate a portion of their gains to 
the poor, that their ship and cargo may not be cast away. Others 



" Of the sin of idolatry there are two sorts, the worship of a false 
God, forbidden in the first commandment, and the worship of the 
true God under a false representation, as through any unlawful me- 
dium, forbidden more particularly in the second commandment." 
Clarke, Expos, of the Catech. p. 1,5.5. 

** Christians began to corrupt themselves, first, with setting up 
images in their places of religious worship, merely as historical 
memorials ; then, they imagined peculiar favors, annexed to prayers, 
offered to God in the places where such particular images stood ; after 
this, they began to direct their prayers to the saints whom the images 
represented ; and at last, in the most stupid manner, to the images 
themselves. Towards saints and angels they expressed, first, a cer- 
tain honor or reverence, and then proceeded to idolize them directly 
as authoritative mediators in conjunction with Christ; towards the 
bread and wine in the sacrament they showed, first, a certain awful 
respect, as to the memorials of Christ's death ; then they proceeded 
to pay a veneration to them, as being the real body and blood of 
Christ. After this, they presumed to worship them as Christ's liv- 
ing person ; and at last, absolutely as God himself." lb. p. 161. 

The Catholics pray the Virgin Mary to command her son Christ 
to succour them, and grant their requests. 

The bold reformer, Huss, well said, " that popery, except for the 
Catholics owning the name of our blessed Lord and Saviour, could 
scarcely be distinguished from the heathen idolatries." 

In the first ages of Christianity persecution induced Christians to 
retire to deserts ; when the reason ceased, fanaticism continued the 
practice, and established monasteries. What institutions can be 
more destructive of the best feelings of our nature, arising from the 
discharge of the social duties ? Their gross superstitions allure men 
from true religion, aud to use the words of Erasmus, " the monks 
fancy the . Devil never takes up his dwelling amongst them, and 
every one who puts on their doublet is divinely inspired. On the 
contrary, most of them have had no other call than stupidity, igno- 
rance, despair, laziness, and the hope of being fed." Ep 4 442. c» 
1822, 



10a The Christian's Manual. 

burn a taper in honor of Jerom, to recover lost goods. In a 
word, there is not a single object of men's hopes and fears, but 
they have made a god to preside over. And these are different 
in various nations. This is a sort of service, which, as it termi- 
nates in bodily pains or pleasures, without the least connexion 
with Christ, is so far from being Christian, that it is the same 
superstition with theirs, who offered a tithe of their goods to 
Hercules, in hopes of growing rich ; a cock to iEsculapius, that 
they might recover from a disease ; a bull to Neptune, to obtain 
a happy voyage. The names are altered, but men's intentions 
are the same. I pity their blindness and infirmity, and would 
show them a more excellent way. (a) They had much better 
pray that their love of virtue, and hatred of vice, may be increased, 
and let them leave it to God whether they shall live or die, 
and say with St. Paul, " whether we live, we live unto the Lord ,* 
and whether we die, we die unto the Lord." (b) Against this it 
will be urged by certain devotees, who think " gain is godli- 
ness," (c) and « who serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their 
own belly," (d) dare you then decry the honor paid to the saints, 
in whom God himself is honored ? In answer, I declare, I do 
condemn such gross superstitions and idolatry, originating from 
the worldly views of the Romish church, and contrary to true 
Christianity. 1 

1 Erasmus, in his ** Praise of Folly," remarks : " As to the popes 
of Rome, who pretend themselves Christ's vicars, if they would but 
imitate his exemplary life, in the being employed in an uninter- 
mitted course of preaching ; in the being attended with poverty, 
nakedness, hunger, and a contempt of this world ; iftheydidbut 
consider the import of the word Pope, which signifies a Father ; or 
if they did but practise their surname of Most Holy ; what order 
or degree of men would be in a worse condition ? There would be 
then no such vigorous makers of parties, and buying of votes in the 
conclave, upon a vacancy of that see : and those, who by bribery 
or other indirect courses, should get themselves elected, would 
never secure their sitting firm in the chair, by guns, poison, force 

(a) 1 Cor. xii. 31. (b) Rom. xiv. 8. 

(c) 1 Tim. vi. 5. (rf) Rom. xvi. 18. 



Rule IV. Christ the End of all Things. 101 

You pray to God to deliver you from premature death ; 
whereas you ought to pray for a better mind, that death may 
never find you unprepared, {a) l When you pray to God to 

and violence. How much of their pleasure would be abated, 
if they were endued with but one drachm of wisdom ? wisdom, did 
I say, nay, with one grain of that salt, which Christ commanded 
them not to lose the savour of. All their riches, all their honor, their 
jurisdictions, their Peter's patrimony, their offices, their dispensa- 
tions, their licences, their indulgences, their long train and attend- 
ants, (see in how short a compass I have abbreviated all their mar- 
keting of religion) in a word, all their perquisites would be forfeited 
and lost; and in their room would succeed watchings, fastings, 
tears, prayers, sermons, hard studies, repenting sighs, and a thou- 
sand such like severe penalties ; nay what is yet more deplorable, 
it would then follow, that all their clerks, amanuenses, notaries, 
advocates, proctors, secretaries, the offices of grooms, ostlers, serv- 
ing men, &c. in short all these troops of attendants, which depend 
on his Holiness, would lose their several employments. This in- 
deed would be hard, but what yet remains would be more dread- 
ful ; the very Head of the Church, the spiritual prince, would then 
be brought from all his splendor, to the poor equipage of a scrip 
and staff.' ' 

1 " Nor love thy life, nor hate ; but what thou liv'st 
Live well ; how long, or short, permit to heaven. 5 ' 

Paradise Lost, b. xi. 

'* We must make it our first care that our vices die before us, 
and our next must be to live in constant readiness and expectation 
of dying ourselves. Who can express the happy condition of that 
man who hath husbanded his talent, and finished the business of 
life before death approaches to interrupt him ? There remains one 
qualification more to be attained, which is, the being willing, as 
well as ready ; for no man dies well, who goes out of the world 
with such reluctance, that it is mere matter of constraint, and plain 
he would fain, but cannot, stay here longer." 

" We ought to encounter death perpetually, by a method contrary 
to that of the vulgar, which is, by fixing our eyes and thoughts 
steadily upon him, to converse and grow intimate, to render him 

(«) Ps. xxxix. 4. xc. 12. 



102 The Christian's Manual. 

spare your life, without intending to amend it ; what is it but 
desiring, that you may be indulged in an opportunity to sin as 



familiar. To carry the idea and strongest representations of him, 
constantly with us. He should not alone be our companion in 
sickness and danger, but in health. Death is always aiming at us — 
this is no painful exercise, quite otherwise ; it raises us above ftlie 
fears, disappointments, and terrors, which worldly men suffer*" 

" the thought of death indulge ; 

Give it its wholesome empire ! let it reign, 
The kind chastiser of thy soul in joy ! 
Its reign will spread thy glorious conquests far, 
And still the tumults of thy ruffled breast.'' 

Young, Night Hi.. 
« Why start at death ? where is he ? Death arriv'd, 
Is past : not come, or gone, he's never here. 
Ere hope, sensation fails ; black-boding man 
Receives, not suffers, death's tremendous blow. 
The knell, the shroud, the mattock, and the grave ; 
The deep damp vault, the darkness, and the worm ; 
These are the bugbears of a winter's eve, 
The terrors of the living, not the dead. 
Imagination's fool, and error's wretch, 
Man makes a death which nature never made ; 
Then on the point of his own fancy falls, 
And feels a thousand deaths in fearing one." lb. N. iv. 
Abraham Buchaltzer in his old age wrote to a friend, " It has 
always been my care to be ready when God calls." {died A. D. 
15S4.) 

Hierom in all his actions fancied this sound : " Arise ye dead, 
and come to judgment." 

William Cowper, said, " My soul is always ready to be offered 
to God. Sure I am there can no evil death befal him that lives 
in Christ ; nor sudden death to a Christian pilgrim, who, with Job, 
, waits every hour for his change." (died 1619,) 

" There is nothing that more abateth sin than the frequent medi- 
tation of death." 

Erasmus observes, " I have no more any anxious thoughts upon 
the consideration oi death, than upon the day of my birth. I know 



Rule V. On placing our Affections. 103 

long as possible ? You pray for riches ; but if you know not 
how to use them, you are praying for your destruction. In like 
manner you pray for health ; but if it be only to abuse it, is not 
your devotion impious ? 

The height of Christian perfection is, to be duly prepared to 
die ; to place our chief glory and felicity in sickness, losses, and 
other temporal calamities •, for as the sitfferings of Christ abound 
in us, so oar consolation also aboundeth by Christ, (a) If you 
regulate all your designs and actions by this rule, 1 you will not 
mistake your way. 



RULE V. 

The Duty of placing our Affections on Things above. 

JTo the preceding rule permit me to add another, which is, that 
you must take your mind from visible objects, which are either 

I must die, and to live in fear of it, may shorten my life, but never 
prolong it ; so my only care is to live honestly and comfortably, 
and leave the rest to Providence : no man can live happily that 
does not live well." In the Old Man's Colloquy. 

1 " It is written for our instruction, and we hear it read in the 
church for our example, " He tvho saith he ahideth in him (Christ) 
ought himself also so to tvalk, even as he tvalked." 1 John ii. 6. 

" We must endeavour therefore to walk with equal paces to his, 
and to follow his practice with an holy emulation ; to resemble it as 
near as possibly we can, and when our practice makes such near 
approaches to our profession ; when we not only believe the gospel, 
but live as becomes it ; then, and only then, we may expect the 
reward of our faith, and of our obedience." Cyprian {martyr An, 
258.) De Virgin, s. 5. 

(a) 2 Cor. i.5. Acts v. 41. 



104? The Christian's Manual. 

of an imperfect or indifferent nature, and place it on the things 
invisible, 1 This precept is so necessary, that for want of know- 
ing or practising it, the generality are not religious but super- 
stitious 5 and, except in their common appellation of Christians, 
they resemble the Gentiles. 



1 " Disce mori mundo, 
Vivere disce Deo." 
Cave observes " The soul of man being heaven-born, cannot but 
partake of the nature and disposition of that country, and have a 
native inclination to that place from whence it borrows its original : 
and though it is true, in this corrupt and degenerate state, it is deeply 
sunk into matter, clogged, and overborne with the earthly and sensual 
propensions of the lov/er appetites, the desires and designs of men, 
creeping up and down, like shadows upon the surface of the earth ; 
yet does it often, especially when assisted with the aids of religion, 
attempt its own rescue and release. The mind of a good man is 
actuated by manly and generous impulses, it dwells in the contem- 
plation of the upper region, tramples upon those little projects of 
profit or pleasure which ensnare and enslave other men, and makes 
all its designs subservient to the interests of a better country. A 
temper of mind never more triumphant in any, than in the Christians 
of old, whose conversations were in heaven, and whose spirits 
breathed in too free an air to be caught with the charms of the best 
enjoyments this world could afford. They looked upon the delights 
and advantages of this life, as things not worthy to arrest their 
affections in their journey to a better." Primitive Christianity, part 
2. c. ii. 

" Justin Martyr discoursing with Trypho, the Jew, tells him, that 
Christians were careful to converse with men according to the 
Scriptures, not greedily desiring to gain riches, or glory, or plea- 
sure, to themselves, concerning which no man could lay any thing 
to their charge." lb. Dial, cum Tryph. p. 308. (An. 155.) 

When we review the lives of the early Christians, we should 
blush for our degeneracy ; instead thereof, most are so corrupt 
as to glory in it, and regard primitive manners, or ihe adherence to 
the sobriety of the ancient Christians, as disgraceful. The very 
mention of primitive, or pure, excites a sneer,. - m 



Rule V. On placing our Affections. 105 

Let us frame to ourselves two distinct worlds, the one invi- 
sible, the other visible. The invisible is that wherein God re- 
sides with the blessed spirits ; and the visible, that which con- 
sists of the heavenly bodies, and all things included therein. 
Man is a third kind of world, compounded as it were of both ♦, 
being visible with regard to his body, but invisible in respect of 
his soul. As man is a stranger in this visible world, he ought 
not to attempt to set up his rest here j 1 but, by an apt allusion, 
should draw lessons of piety from every thing. 1 "When your 



1 Imitate the patriarchs who " all died in faith, not having received 
the promises, but having seen them afar off, and mere persuaded of 
them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and 
pilgrims on the earth." Heb. xi. 13. xiii. 14. Ps. xxxix. 12. cxix. 13. 
Justin Martyr said, " Christians dwell in their own countries, but 
as inmates and foreigners ; they have all things common with other 
men as fellow citizens, and yet suffer all things as strangers and 
foreigners: every foreign region is their country, and every coun- 
try is foreign to them : they marry like other men, and have chil- 
dren, but do not expose or neglect their offspring ; they feast 
in common, but do not exceed like other men ; they are in the flesh, 
but do not live after the flesh ; dwell on earth, but their conversa- 
tion is in heaven." Therefore he compares the Christians in this 
world to the soul in the body, as for other reasons, so especially for 
this, " that as the soul lives in the body, but is not of the body, so 
Christians dwell in the world, but are not of the world ; an immor- 
tal spirit dwells in a mortal tabernacle ; and Christians, while they 
sojourn in these corruptible mansions, expect and look for an incor- 
ruptible state in heaven." Epist. ad Diognet.p. 497. {An. 155.) 
cited hy Cave, part 2. c. 2. 

4 " Every object that surrounds the solitary man enlarges the 
faculties of his mind, improves the feelings of his heart, elevates him 
above the condition of the species, and inspires his soul with views 
of immortality." Zimmerman. 

t( Happy the lot ! to view with ravish'd eyes, 

The fountains whence eternal joys arise. 

Happy the flight ! on angels' wings to soar, 

And scorn the earth, and wear her chains no more." Boetiuz 



106 The Christian's Manual. 

eyes are delighted with the glorious prospect of the rising sun, 
think of the happiness of the heavenly host, whose bright eter- 
nal sun never sets •, (a) of the sincere joys of an innocent mind, 
enlightened by the holy Spirit of God ; and pray that He who 
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, would shine in your 
heart, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in 
the face of Jesus Christ, (b) Recollect parallel passages of 
Scripture, in which light is a type of the grace of God. (c) Is 
the night gloomy ? what must the condition of that soul be, that 
is unenlightened by grace, and overcast with the foul mists of 
vice and folly ? If you find your soul to be of that black and 
sooty complexion, pray that the sun of righteousness (</) may 
illumine it. Does a graceful form please the eye ? how much 
more attractive is a soul that is lovely ? (e) Is a deformed 
visage displeasing ? what must a mind be that is distorted with 
vice ? ■ Thus you may continue the comparison ; for the soul 
has its beauty and ugliness, as well as the body ; it is sometimes 
the beloved of God, and sometimes the minion of the Devil. 
It is also subject to youth and age, sickness and health, life and 
death, poverty and wealth, pain and pleasure, peace and war, 
heat and cold, hunger and thirst. The spiritual life consists in 
abstracting our attention from things terrestrial, and fixing our 
affections on eternal and perfect enjoyments, (f) % Of this So- 



1 To ridicule personal defects is ungenerous. We should studi- 
ously avoid any allusion to them. A German Emperor perceiving 
a very deformed- priest in a church, inwardly scorned him, but 
when he heard these words, " It is lie that hath made us, and not 
ivS ourselves" Ps. c. 2. he checked his proud thoughts, and 
ascertaining that the priest was exceedingly devout and learned, 
made him an archbishop. 

a Tatian (An. 180.) describing Christians, says, " Amongst us 
there is no affectation of vain glory, no diversity of sentiments and 

(«) Isai. Ix. 10. 20. (b) 2 Cor. iv. 6. 

(c) Isai. Ix. 1-3. viii. 20. John viii. 12. 

((f) Isai. xlii. 6. 7. Ps. lxxxiv. 11. (c) Prov. xxxi. 30» 

(/) Phil. iii. 20. 21. Ps. lxxiii. 25. 2 Cor. iv. 18. 



Rule V. On placing our Affections, 107 

crates was sensible, for he says, " that a soul cannot depart hap- 
pily out of the body, except it has deeply meditated on death -> 
atid by a contempt of corporeal sensations, and a love and atten- 
tion to spiritual objects, used itself to be absent as it were from 
the body." St. Paul commands, Set your affections on things 
above, not on the things on the earth, [a) Which shows that 
we ought to become as it were insensible to corporeal objects 5 
that we may be the more acute in the discernment of spiritual, 
The less we value temporal, the more we shall prize eternal 
enjoyments. Do not think of resting in things transitory, but 
rise to the love of spiritual objects, and despise what is visible 
when compared with what is invisible. Thus, a bodily distem- 
per will become more tolerable, when you consider it as a reme- 
dy and cure for the disorders of the mind, (b) l You will not be 



opinions, but separating ourselves from all vulgar and earthly 
thoughts, and having given up ourselves to the commands of God, 
to be governed by his law, we abandon whatever seems allied to 
human glory." Orat. con. Gra. p. 167. 

Cardinal Wolsey exclaimed, " Had I but served God as diligent- 
ly as I have served the King, he would not have given me over in 
ray grey hairs. But this is the just reward I must receive for my 
indulgent pains and study, not regarding my service to God, but 
only to my prince." Hume H. 8. c. iv. 

1 < l Pains are mingled with pleasures, and bitterness with delights, 
that we may learn the more to regard eternal felicity." 

'« They supply the place of wormwood, which providence like a 
wise nurse puts upon the breast to make us loath the milk, and be 
content to part with the delights of this deceitful life, of which we 
should otherwise be immoderately fond." 

" The enduring what is tedious and troublesome is a necessary 
encumbrance of life, and charged in common upon all living 
creatures, upon mankind, most evidently, and especially. And it 
is by no means reasonable that Providence should work a miracle 
for our sakes, and exempt us only. How absurd is it therefore to 
fret, and perplex ourselves because that hath happened to one 

(«) Col. iii. 2. (b) Vs. cxix. 71. Isai. xlviii. 10. 



108 The Christian's Manual. 

so solicitous for the health of the body, when your whole 
attention is turned to preserving the health of your mind. Are 
you afraid of the death of the body, consider that of the soul 
is much more terrible ? ■ You abhor poison, as it destroys the 
one ; but are in no fear of that which will make the other 
to perish. Hemlock is not a more deadly poison to the bod v, 
than vice is the bane of the soul. You tremble and look pale 
when it lightens ; but how much more dreadful are the flashes 
of divine vengeance ? And yet you are not afraid of that 
horrible sentence, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting 
Jire. (a) You pray God, to send rain upon your estate ; how 
much rather ought you to pray, that God would send the dew 
of his blessing upon your heart, that you may not be unfruitful 
in good works ? With what care do you endeavour to supply 
the loss of a little money j with how much more ought you 
to prevent any detriment to the mind ? You lay up a provision 
against old age, ought you not in like manner to consult for the 
good of the soul ? (b) Thus ought you to moralize daily. 

We ought to place no confidence in the flesh : in the spirit are 
to be found life, liberty, light, adoption, and all desirable 
fruits, (c) * You will see Jesus Christ often pursuing the same 
topic in his discourses, particularly where he speaks of drawing 
the ass out of the well on the sabbath day ; (d) of giving sight 
to the blind j (e) of plucking the ears of corn ', (f) of eating 
with unwashen hands - y (g) of feasting with sinners ; (k) of the 



man in particular, which might, and may happen^each moment 
to every man." 

1 " Health is to the body, what probity is to the mind ; it is the, 
probity, or good disposition of the body, as probity is the health of 
the soul." 

a " Divine love is a never failing treasure ; he that has it is rich, 
and he that wants it is poor." Basil. (A. D. 370) 

(a) Matt. xxv. 43. (/') Matt, vi. 19, 25. 

(0 Gal. v. 22. Rom. viii. 13. (d) Luke xiv. 

(e) John ix. 14. (/) Matt. xii. 1. 

(g) Matt. xv. 20. (h.) Mark ii. 16. 



Rule V. On placing our Affections.. 169 

Pharisee and the Publican; [a) of fasts ; (6) of our brethren 
after the flesh ; (c) of the Jewish boast, that they were the sons 
of Abraham ; (d) of offering gifts •, of prayers ; and of the 
broad hems of their garments : (e) — In all which, and the like 
passages, he disapproves of the carnal law, and censures their 
superstition, that preferred the being Jews outwardly, to being 
Jews inwardly , and in the spirit, {f) So he signified to the 
woman of Samaria ; Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, 'when 
ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem worship 
the Father. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true 
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth ; for 
the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit : and 
they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth. 
John iv. 21. And that you may not think much of Christ's 
despising the things before mentioned, he even despised believers 
receiving the sacrament, except in a spiritual manner, (g) If 
a matter of that weight is nothing, indeed pernicious, without 
it is received^ spiritually ; how much less Can we confide in 
other carnal ordinances P Possibly you may communicate 
often ; but if you live only for yourself, and have not the least 
sense of another's afflictions 3 your receiving the sacrament is a 
carnal act. If you become what that holy rite signifies, namely, 
one spirit and one body with Christ, (/z) you are then a lively 
member of his church. If you love nothing but for Christ's 
sake, if you admit that your goods are applicable to the relief of 
his poor members, (£) and are equally sorry for other men's 
disappointments as your own, (k) then you receive the sacra- 
ment spiritually, and to your soul's infinite benefit. If you per- 
ceive that you are transformed unto Christ, (/) and live every 
day less unto yourself; then you are become a Christian. 
Many reckon how often they attend divine service : as 



(a) Luke xviii. 10. (6) Matt. vi. 10. (c) Matt. xii. 46. 

(d) John viii.33.. (e) Matt xxiii. (f) Rom. ii. 28. 

(g) 1 Cor. xi. 27, 29. (k) 1 Cor. x. 16. 

(*) 1 Tim. vi. 17, 19. 1 John iii. 17-19. 
(k) Malt. xxii. 35-10. 1 Cor. xii. 25. </) Rom. xii. 1. 



HO The Christian's Manual. 

if they owed Christ no further duty, they go from church, « 



1 By the word church, I here mean a congregation of Chris- 
tians' for religious worship — in its more extended scriptural sense, 
it includes all the righteous. Not forsaking the assembling of our- 
selves together. Heb. x. 2.5. The holy Sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper should be administered at least once a week : this was the 
custom in the Apostles' time : Jets xx. 7. Our blessed Saviour 
said, " This do in remembrance of me." Luke xxii. 19. Many 
observe they are not prepared for so holy an office. O shame ! such 
cannot be ready to die, and appear before their great judge, there- 
fore in what frightful danger are they? delay not to make your 
peace with God and your brethren, for man knoweth not his time, 
and there is no worJc> nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the 
grave "whither thou goest. Eccles. ix. 10 — 12. Heb. ix. 27. 
• Imitate the pious Bernard, who on entering the church said, 
"Stay here all my worldly thoughts, and all vanity, that I may 
entertain heavenly meditations. " 

If we were as careful to adorn our immortal souls, as we are to 
.deer rate our perishable bodies, there would be less vanity, and 
more sanctity in religious assemblies. The prayers of the tattered 
but modest person, are more grateful to God, than those of the 
rich and vain glorious. 

How frequently is the aged and tottering pauper denied the 
accommodation of a vacant scat in the pew of his opulent 
brother ! so much greater is our pride, than our love, that we keep 
at a distance from the poor man, as if he was infected with the 
plague ; even, if the dreaded contact should soil our garment, it 
would cleanse our souls from pride. "My brethren, have not the 
faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, with respect of 
persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold 
ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile 
raiment ; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, 
and say unto him, sit thou here in a good place ; and say to the 
poor, stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool : are ye not 
then prrtial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts. 
James ii. 1 — 4. 

Originally gold rings distinguished the Roman knights, and 
some Senators from the Plebeians j towards the decline of the 
empire the distinction was abolished. 



Rule V. On placing our Affections. Ill 

and return to their ordinary way of life. Perform what is 



Some are ushered to their seats, with all the pomp and ceremony 
of a drawing room : the Holy Bible and Prayer Book are consigned 
to the hand of the pampered servant. Must the house of God, where 
we assemble to humble ourselves, be thus sacrilegiously polluted ? 
Must the real honor of God, be sacrificed to empty ostentation ? 
Chrysostom (flour. 400) describes the reverence and devotion of 
public worship to have been so great, that the Emperors/when they 
entered the church, deposited their arms, and crowns, and discharged 
their guard. Vide Theod. et Valent. Cod. Lib. ix. Tit. xlv. leg. iiii. 
et Chrys. Oral, post redit. ah exit. Tom. iv. p. 850. Let all drop 
their pride at the porch, dismiss the servants, and be ushered by 
meekness and purity of spirit, the attendants of true Christians. 

Others habitually enter the church after the commencement of 
the service. The anxiety to avoid giving offence, or neglecting 
their interests, generally ensures a punctual observance of worldly 
visits, or appointments ; indeed how often to gratify curiosity, have 
they submitted to a tedious attendance before the stated hour ? 
but so regardless are they of the glory of God, and indifferent to 
his worship, as to interrupt it by their late arrival. Is such con- 
duct a grateful return for his abundant mercy and goodness ? In 
private society, the person who is inattentive to the time of meeting, 
is justly called rude, but these deserve the epithet of impious. Le t 
them enter before the service, and by heavenly considerations, 
prepare their minds for the due reception of sacred truths. To 
prevent the thoughts wandering during the intervals of the service, 
devoutly meditate on the psalms. 

How many irreverently refuse to rise, and sing praises to 
God ? O shame ! they cheerfully rise at the recital of a national 
song, but are motionless when required to glorify their heavenly 
Father. Ps. 1. 23. xxxiii. xcii. 1. 

Some are so impatient to return to earthly pursuits, that they 
infamously disturb the clergyman's concluding blessing. Burnet 
treating of the advantages of die Reformation observes, « What 
will it avail us to understand the right methods of worshipping God, 
if we are without true devotion ; and coldly perform public offices, 
without sense, and affection, which is as bad, as a bead-roll of 



112 The Christian's Manual. 

fcliefe preached, (a) Is the death of our Lord set forth in lively- 
colors, then diligently examine yourself, and see how much you 
want of being dead to the world ? If your mind is tainted 
with anger, ambition, covetousness, envy, and sensuality; though 
you draw near to the church, you are still far from God. 
Devote yourself to Christ who was slain for your sake. But if 
you trust in him, without fulfilling his precepts, know that 
God verily hates your stupid devotion. 

You have been baptized you say, I would not have you 
therefore fancy yourself a Christian \ (b) * for if your mind is 



prayers in whatsoever language they are pronounced ? What 
signifies our having the .sacraments purely administered among us, 
if we either contemptuously neglect them, or irreverently handle 
them, more perhaps in compliance with law, than out of a sense 
of the holy duties incumbent on us ? for what end are the Scriptures 
put into our hands, if we do not read them with great attention 
and order our lives according to them? and what does all preach- 
ing signify, if men go to church merely for form, and hear sermon's 
only as set discourses, which they will censure or commend a? 
they think they see cause, but are resolved never to be the bette: 
for them ?" In Pref. to Ab. Hist. Reform. 

1 Erasmus in the Colloquy of the " Seraphic Funeral," exposing 
the blasphemy, and superstitious belief of the Franciscans that 
whoever professes himself of the order, whether a Turk, or the 
Devil himself, and dies therein, will be free from purgatory, and 
have all his crimes pardoned ; and of the custom of persons at the 
point of death assuming the order, remarks, "I would fain have 
you tell me what advantage professing, or being habited does a 
man when terrified at death, and despair of life." 

" I shall not here examine the merits of a man's dedicating 
himself to God when he is no longer in his own power. I consider 
that every Christian devotes himself to God in his baptism, when 
he renounces all the pomps and vanities of Satan, and enlists him- 
self to fight under Christ's banner the remainder of his life. And 
St. Paul speaking of those that die with Christ says, < Horns shall 
toe that arc dead to sin, live any longer therein ? K?iotv ye not, that 

fa) James i. 2t~27. Rom. iL 13. . John ii. 3-6. (b) Matt. vii. 21-23. 



Rule V. On placing om* Affections. 1 13 

set on this world you are a Christian in appellation, but in truth 

so many of you as taere baptized into Jesus Christ, Mere baptized 
into his death ? (Rom. vi. 2. 3. 1 Peter iv. 2. 3.) does not 
mean this of monks only, but of Christians universally. Theotimus. 
You have very seasonably reminded me of baptism, for in ancient 
times if they were but dipt, or sprinkled at the last gasp, there was^ 
hope given them of eternal life. Philacous. What the Bishops 
promise is of little importance ; but it is a matter of great uncer- 
tainty what God will do; for if it were certain that such men" 
Were immediately made citizens of heaven, by having a little water 
sprinkled in their faces, what greater opening could be made for 
worldly men to serve their vile lusts and appetites all their lives, and 
then get two or three drops of water sprinkled upon them when 
unable to sin any longer. Thus they may live to the devil, and die 
to Christ." 

From an heretical notion that if a person relapsed into sin after 
baptism, his repentance would not be accepted, derived from St. 
Paul's saying, " If they tvho have been once enlightened, shall Jail 
atvay, it is impossible to renetv them again unto repentance : seeing 
they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an 
open shame" Heb. vi. 4 — 6. some deferred their baptism till at the 
point of death. 

Philacous in continuation observes, " When I was at Antwerp, 
I was present when a woman was just giving up the ghost. A 
Franciscan, a very reverend man, perceiving the woman to yawn, 
put one of her arms into the sleeve of his habit ; and it was disputed 
whether the whole woman should be safe from hell, or that part 
only which had been in the sleeve. Theotimus. Why the whole 
Voman was secured ; as it is in baptism, but part of the person is 
dipt iirthe water, but the whole person is made a Christian !" 

Tertullian (An. 198) well said " a Christian is made, not born." 

It is ridiculous to imagine that sprinkling, or immersion, can 
metamorphose a man into a Christian. You might with equal 
propriety attribute the like efficacy to the first affusion of the infant 
or ordinary bathing ; or fancy you receive the holy sacrament of 
tke Lord's Supper when you take bread and a glass of wine for 
bodily refreshment. — Faitbj repentance and newness of life (Rom. vi. 
4) constitute a Christian. John the Baptist said Repent ye : and 
Ch. Ma. H 



114 The Christian's Manual. 

worse than a heathen, (a) If you demand why ? the reason is 

then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the region 
round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing 
their sins; and he admonished the Pharisees and Sadducees to bring 
forth therefore fruits meet for repentance ; and told them that every 
tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast 
into the fre. (Matt. iii. 2 — 10.) Did Jesus direct us to confide 
in any transforming power of the water ? no. I say unto thee, 
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God ; and 
when Nicodemus inquired, how can a man be born when he is old *- 
Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born 
of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God, 
(John iii. 3—5. Luke iii. 1—18. Rom. vi. 2-14. 1 Cor. x. 1—12. 
Col. iii. 1.) John baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with 
the Holy Ghost. (Acts i. 5.) Then Peter said unto them, repent 
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the 
remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Gho§t. 
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the 
same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 
And they continued stedfastly in the Apostle's doctrine and fellowship y 
and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Acts ii. 38—42. When 
the Eunuch read Isai. liii. 7. 8. and had the scriptures expounded 
by Philip, and his belief confirmed, he observed, what doth hinder me 
to be baptized? And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart 
thou mayest. (Acts viii. 27-37.) Philip did not baptize him as a 
matter of course, but demanded an assurance of his believing with 
all his heart, that is, as St. Peter explains it, the answer of a good 
conscience toward God. (1 Peter iii. 21.) And directs you to « add to 
your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, 
temperance ; and to temperance, patience ; and to patience, godliness ; 
and to godliness, brotherly kindness ; and to brotherly kindness, cha- 
rity." 2 Peter i. 5—7. 

Circumcision was an outward sign imposed under the Jewish dis- 
pensation. (G^H.xvii. 10.) And now, Israel, what doththe Lord require 
of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and 
to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and 
te&k all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and his 
statutes, which I comyvmd thee this day for thy good ? Circumcise 
(a) Luke ill. 47, 48, 



Rule V. On placing our Affections: 115 

plain, because you have observed only the outward form of this 
sacrament, and have neglected the spirit, and intention of it. 
You have washed your bodv indeed, but your soul is still vile, 
and polluted. On the contrary, if you are buried with Christ in 
baptism, and intend to walk with him in newness of life, (a) I 
confess you are a christian. 

The Romanists superstitiously sprinkle themselves with holy- 
water •, it would be better if they were as careful to purify their 
minds, (b) How preposterous is it, to adore the bones of St. Paul ; 
but not to regard that spirit which lives in his works ? They 

therefore, the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked. For 
the Lord your God is God of Gods, and Lord of Lords, a great God, 
a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor takeih 
reward. (Dent. x. 12-17.) And what says St. Paul? is it that the 
ceremony of circumcision makes a Jew ? far otherwise, Jor circum- 
cision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law ; but if thou be a breaker 
of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision, Rom. ii. 25. 
Again circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but 
the keeping of the commandments of God. 1 Cor. vii. 19. But our 
Saviour is yet more explicit : after his resurrection he charged his 
disciples, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in 
the name of the father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : 
teaching them, not to trust in the ceremony, or outward sign of 
baptism, but to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. 
Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. vii. 21.2 John 9. And the disciples were called 
Christians first in Antioch. Acts xi. 26. (An. 40.) 

When persons become members of a club or society, they tacitly 
or expressly undertake to respect and observe the regulations there- 
of, and if they cease so to do, they are expelled, and not permitted 
to retain their peculiar name : indeed our laws refuse what is called 
christian burial to traitors, murderers, and those found felo de se — 
and yet many, professing themselves members and followers of 
Christ, despise and break his commandments. And why call ye me 
Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say P Luke vi. 46. 
At the last day such will be disowned, then will Christ tell them, I 
never knew ye : depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matt. vii. 
16. 23. xxv. 1-1 2. All them which do iniquity shall be cast into a fur- 
naceoffire ; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth, xiii. 41, 42. 
Vide ante c. 1. p. 7. n. 1. p. 8. n. 3. p. 9. n. 1. 

(a) Rum. vi. ?. 13. (ft) I<ai. \. 16. Mat. xxiii. 25. 2 Cor. vii. 1. 



116 The Christian's Manual. 

wickedly admire a fragment of his body, which they see through 
a glass : but the soul of St. Paul, which is seen in his 
writings, has no charms for them. They worship those ashes, 
with which they work pretended miracles on men j but have no 
relish for those wholesome doctrines which would cure their cor- 
rupt souls. They honor Christ's image in wood or stone, or 
upon canvass : [a] but how much more should they honor the 
picture of his mind, which is so beautifully drawn by the holy 
Spirit in the Gospels. Apelles could not more nicely touch the 
lineaments or describe the shape of a man. As there is nothing 
so like God the Father, as the Son, whose word he is, 
sent from the divine bosom : so nothing so nearly resembles 
Christ, as his word. They are so senseless, as not to adore this 
most perfect image of Christ j but instead thereof, to fix their 
eyes and affections on a stock, stone, or picture. They neglect 
such useful and instructive remains of our Lord and Saviour, 
and apply to things of another nature. They look upon a coat 
or handkerchief that is said to have been Christ's with awe, and 
fall asleep in reading his sacred oracles. They think it the great- 
est thing in the world, to have a scrap of the cross ; yet 
what is that to the having a competent knowledge of the 
mystery of the cross, and being duly affected thereby ? If such 
outward things as these make a man religious, who could be more 
so than the Jews ; many^of the worst of whom saw, heard, and 
touched Christ incarnate ; and who could be more happy than 
Judas Iscariot, who saluted his very lips ? (b) 

The flesh without the spirit profits so little, that even the 
Virgin Mother would have been in no better condition for 
having brought forth the Son of God, unless she had also been 
partaker of his spirit. Surprising as this may seem, there remains 
something more so. The Apostles enjoyed the personal 
acquaintance of our Saviour ; yet you read how weak in faith, 
and dull of apprehension they were, (c) What could any one 
desire more to secure his everlasting salvation, than the constant 

(a) Exodus xx. 3. 5. 1 Cor. x. 14. (b) Matt. xxvi. 49. 

(c) Matt. viii. 26. xiv.Sl. 



Rule V. On placing our Affiectiofis. 117 

conversation of one, who was God, and Man ? Yet after seeing 
so many miracles,and being taught the holy doctrine by the mouth 
of God himself, and convinced by the mighty argument of his 
resurrection ; did he not, just before his ascension, upbraid them 
'with their unbelief? (a) Dare you then place piety in any thing 
corporeal ? Proceed to the more excellent gifts of the spirit. 
Perhaps I dwell too long on this particular; but I am the more 
earnest, because I have found that this one error is the great bane 
of Christianity, and so much the more dangerous from its carrying 
some show of piety. For those vices-are the most dangerous that 
appear like virtues. And not to mention that good men are the 
more probable to fall into them, they are not so easily corrected -, 
because the ignorant multitude believe that religion is dishonored, 
when such things are reproved. To worship Christ for worldly 
purposes ; and superstitiously to confide in human ceremonies, 
as if in these things consisted religion ; to plume ourselves upon 
them, and condemn others ; what is this but to apostatize from 
the Gospel, which is of a spiritual nature. 

How much does St. Paul every where press upon the Jews 
the vanity of outward works, and the necessity of being led by 
the spirit ? (b) And yet the vulgar are relapsed into them. But 
why do I say the vulgar ? when even some Divines, and the ge- 
nerality of those persons who profess to lead a spiritual life, are 
led into the same error. If the salt have lost his savour, l (c) 

1 " « Sal sapit omnia.' Salt is given to make things savoury, 
according to that question of Job vi. 6. " can that 'which is unsa- 
voury be eaten without salt ?" and also to save them from putrefac- 
tion. The import of this metaphor is, ye are appointed by that 
pure and holy doctrine, which you are to preach, and by the savour 
of your good conversation, to purge the world from that corruption 
in which it lies, and present mankind to God as a sacrifice of a 
sweet smelling savour, holy and acceptable to God : but if you 
yourselves should lose the savour of your good conversation, and 
become putrified members in my body, you would be wholly useless 

(a) Mark xvi. 14. (b) Rom. vii. 6. ii. 29- Gal. v. 6. 

(c) Matt. v. 13. 



118 TJie Christian's Manual. 

how shall others be seasoned ? I am ashamed to say how super- 
stitiously some observe certain trifling ceremonies and dogmas 
invented by men ; with what rigorous malice they are required 
to be performed and respected ; what confidence they place in 
them ; how rashly they judge of those who observe them not ; 
and with what strife they defend them. This truly is the merit 
by which they expect to gain heaven. They begin with super- 
ciliously condemning and censuring other men's lives, and never 
think any thing done well, but what they do themselves. They 
have little of the true Christian in them, but are carnal, and 
subject to many vices ; being intolerant, morose, and scarce 
able to bear themselves ; their charity is exceeding cold, in pro- 
portion as their wrath is hot; they never forgive, but are virulent 
in their speeches ; their hatred is violent, and they contend 
about nothing ; in fine, some are so far from approaching the 
perfection that Christ requires, that they are untractable, quar- 
relsome, lovers of pleasure, sick of divine truths, agreeable to no 
men, suspicious of every body, and lovers of themselves, (a) Are 
these the fruits of real piety ? If they pretend that they have 
walked in the spirit and not in the flesh ; where are the fruits of 
the spirit ? where is their charity ? where is that inward joy ? 
where that peace with all men ? where is love, joy, peace, long- 
suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temper- 
ance ? (b) where the image of Christ in their life and character? 
I am no fornicator, you reply, no thief, nor guilty of sacrilege, 
and observe the rules of my profession or sect ? But what is 
this, than saying with the Pharisee, / am not as other men are, 
extortioners, unjust, adulterers; I fast twice in the week ? (c) 
How much better is an humble Publican, imploring mercy, than 
men who justify themselves? And what is your profession or 

to these good ends, and therefore can expect nothing but to be re- 
jected by me, and cast off as unsavoury salt is cast unto the dung- 
hill." Whithy Paraphrase and Commentary on the Nexo Testa- 
ment. Matt. v. 13. 

(a) 2 Tiro. iii. 1—6. (b) Gal. v. 16— 26. 

(c) Luke xviii. 9 — 14. 



Rule V. On placing our Affections. 119 

sect ? Is it, that you will not be a christian, as you vowed in 
baptism, but a heathen ? Is not a christian life a spiritual one ? (a) 
Let us hear what St. Paul says to the Romans, chap. viii. 5 — 8. 
They that are after the Jlesh, do mind the things of the flesh ; 
but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. For 
to be carnally minded, is death ; but to be spiritually minded, is 
life and peace : because the carnal mind is enmity against God; 
for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So 
then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 

What could be said more fully and expressly ? Yet they say- 
this has no relation to them. When St. Paul talks of those 
that «'« mind the things of the flesh" and of the « carnal mind 
that is enmity against God " they apply it to fornicators and 
adulterers only, and applaud themselves because they are neither. 
To live in the spirit, they take to signify nothing else but living 
as they do. Now if they had accurately observed St. Paul's 
style, they would have understood, that by the flesh, the Apostle 
means what is visible; by the spirit, that which is invisible, (b) 
And he every where inculcates, that visible things should be 
made subservient to invisible, (c) and not the invisible stoop to 
the visible. 

Dissuading us from these, he says, If ye then be risen with 
Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ Sitteth 
on the right hand of God. Coloss. iii. 1. Afterwards, in the 
rules for a spiritual life, what does he prescribe ? Is it, that we 
must perform such and such rites ? must be dressed in this or 
that garb ? must eat only particular meats •, repeat such a num- 
ber of psalms ; or believe certain tenets of human invention ? 
Nothing like it: he says, Mortify therefore your members which 
are upon the earth ; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affec- 
tion, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry, 5. 
A little further he exhorts, But now ye also put off' all these y 
anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, fit hy communication out of 
your mouth ; and at ver. 9. Put off the old man, with his deeds* 



(a) John iv. 23. Koin. vii. 14. (A) Gal. v. 1G— 25. 

(c) 2 Cor. iv. 18. 



120 The Christian's Manual. 

and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after 
the image of him that created him. What now is meant by the 
old man ; namely, the^rs^ man, which is of the earth, earthy ; [a) 
whose conversation is not in heaven, but on earth. That we 
may not think of pleasing God by certain external obser- 
vances, as so many charms, he tells us, that our works are no 
otherwise acceptable to God, than as they spring from charity; 
And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of 
perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts ; to 
the which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful, (b) 

But to set this matter in a clearer light : In his Epistle to the 
Galatians he makes frequent mention of the flesh, and of the 
spirit ; and not only endeavours to turn them from obeying their 
lusts unto chastity, but also to recover them from trusting in the 
merit of ceremonies and observances, into which they had re- 
lapsed by attending to false Apostles. Observe amongst the 
works of the flesh, what a catalogue of vices he has given : Now 
the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these ; adultery p 
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft^ 
hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions ', heresies, 
envyingSj murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like ; of the 
which I tell y ou before, as J have also told you in time past, that 
they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 
19 — 21. And a little afterwards, If we live in the spirit, let us 
also walk" in the spirit, Gal. v. 25. He adds a caution against 
what seems to be the chief adversary of the spirit ; Let us not 
be desirous of vain-glory, provoking one another, envying one 
another. 

Now every tree is known by his own fruit : (c) Although you 
watch, fast, attend divine service, sing, or observe strict silence, 
and the like ordinances, I value them not ; nor shall I believe 
that you are in the spirit, except I behold in you the fruits of 
the spirit. Why should I not pronounce that you are in the 
flesh, if you discover the works of the flesh? For what else 
can one call that base envy, that fierce anger, that insatiable 

{a) 1 Cor. xv. 47—19. (6) Co!, iii. 14, 1.5. ( ) Luke vi. 14. 



Rule V. On placing our Affections. 121 

thirst of quarrelling., that canine snarling, that envenomed and 
malicious speaking, that pride, that obstinacy, that falsehood, 
that fraud, that covetousness, that lust, that vanity, that lying 
and flattery ? You presume to judge your brother in meat* 
drink, clothes, or other indiffe rent things; but Christ condemns 
you by your actions. 

The generality of mankind place religion in ceremonies, ob- 
servances, creeds, a certain appointment of psalms, or in bodily 
exercises : if you examine them about spiritual matters, you 
will find they are merely carnal. And this is the reason their 
minds are in such continual alarms, fearing where there is no 
fear, and resting securely in the midst of the most terrible dan- 
gers. Hence likewise that perpetual infancy in Christ, which 
makes them lay the greatest stress upon things of no weight in 
themselves; and neglect those of real importance. Thus they 
are always, as it were, under tutorage, and a servile yoke ; 
never advancing to the heights of charity. By love serve one 
another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, 
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and 
devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of 
another, (a) Exercise thyself rather unto godliness; for bodily 
exercise prqfiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, 
having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to 
come, (b) 

St. Paul seems to have had no other design in his writings, 
but to make us despise the flesh, which is the author of all con- 
tention ; and to call us to the spirit, which is the inspirer of 
liberty and charity. For these following are inseparable compa- 
nions, the flesh, anxiety, servitude, and contention ; and, the 
spirit, peace, love, and liberty. 

Christ taught us to love as brethren, (c) At his last supper, 
how carefully and affectionately does he prescribe to his Apostles, 
not concerning meats, drinks, ceremonies, or indifferent things, 
but that they may love one another f (d) What else does St. 



(a) Gal. v. 13, 14. (b) 1 Tim. iv. 7, 8. 

(c) 1 Peter iii. 8. Mark xii. 29—51. John xiji. 35. Iioni. xiii, &. 

(d) John xv. 17. 



122 The Christian's ManOal. 

John inculcate but mutual love and charity ? {a) And St. Paul, 
who every where recommends charity, does, in his Epistle to 
the Corinthians, (b) prefer it even to speaking with the tongues 
of men and of angels, and to having the gift of prophecy, and 
understanding all mysteries, and all knowledge, and all faith. 
Do not pretend it is charity to be often at church, to repeat a set 
number of prayers, creeds or psalms, or observe a strict silence, 
or rigidly to perform human ceremonies. It is charity in St. 
PauPs sense, to edify our neighbour, 1 to consider all men as 
members of the same body, and that we are all one in Christ Jesus ; 
(c) to sympathize with others ; to correct with mildness, to in- 
struct the ignorant, to raise the fallen, to comfort the afflicted, 

1 Let all in the spirit of charity, diffuse religious knowledge, by 
contributing in proportion as God has blessed them to the many 
excellent institutions for the education of the poor, and thus adopt 
the holy and paternal wish of his Majesty, " that every child in 
his dominions should be able to read the Bible." This duty is uni- 
versal : there is another, more especially incumbent upon those who 
are exempt from the toils of business, namely, the devoting a few 
hours of their leisure to the regulation and superintendance of these 
establishments. They will soon experience the benign influence of 
their visits — the disorderly will be restrained, the tractable encou- 
raged. They should particularly instruct the children by language 
suited to their humble capacities, in the more general precepts of 
Christianity — -Duty to God, and their neighbour, explaining, that 
by the latter they are to understand all mankind — love, honor, and 
submission to their parents and teachers — brotherly affection — re- 
spect and obedience to the sovereign and magistrates — sobriety, 
diligence, and honesty in their several stations — against lying, swear- 
ing, anger, hatred, revenge, and envy. 

" The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony 
of the Lord is sure, making "wise the simple." Ps. xix. 7, 8. " From a 
child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make 
thee wise unto salvation, through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. 
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for 
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness* 

(a) 1 John fii. 23. (Jb) 1 Cor. xiii. (v) Gal. iii. 28. 



Rule V. j, On placing our Affections. 12S 

to relieve the sick, and assist the poor ; in short, to benefit as 
many as possible for Christ's sake : that as he was born, lived, 
and died, not for his own advantage, but for ours ; we should 
follow his example and do good to our brethren, (a) 

God despised the burnt offerings, new moons, and sabbaths, 
the calling of assemblies, and appointed feasts, of his people, 
while they were evil doers, although he himself had commanded 
them •, (b) and will any man dare to compare his paltry institu- 
tions with the divine precepts ? Yet you read in Isaiah what 
contempt and loathing he expresses concerning them, Chap. i. 
11-14. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto 
me ? saith the Lord : I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, 
and the fat qf fed beasts: and I delight not in the blood of bul- 
locks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. — When ye come to appear be- 
fore me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts ? 
Bring no more vain oblations ; incense is an abomination unto 
me ; the new moons, and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, 
I cannot away with ; It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 
Your. new moons, and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth s 
they are a trouble unto me ; I am weary to bear them. And 
when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you ; 
yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear : your hands 
are full of blood. When he speaks of rites, ceremonies, and 
the multitude of prayers, does he not, as it were, point at those 
men, who measure religion by psalms, prayers, creeds, or other 
human institutions ? Observe also, how the Prophet describes the 

That the man qf God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all 
good works" 2 Tim. iii. 15 — 17. 

Besides the approval of conscience, what incitement has God 
graciously given us — " They that turn many to righteousness shall 
shine as the stars for ever and ever." Dan. xii. 3. 

" Brethren, if any qf you do err from the truth, undone convert 
him ; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner frum the 
error qf his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a mul- 
titude qf sins" James, v. 19, 20. 

«) Matt. xxii. 37—39. Luke x. 37. James ii- 8. 
(h). Exodus xxix, xxxv, Lev. i. ii. iii. 



124 The Christian's Manual. 

aversion of God, insomuch that he cannot endure to see or hear, 
— of what ? — those very things which he had so strictly ordained, 
and which had been long observed by anointed Kings and Pro- 
phets with the most profound respect and veneration. Yet he 
abhorred these even under the carnal law without good works ; 
how then can any one trust to petty observances of human in- 
vention, under a spiritual dispensation ? * God commands the 
same prophet, Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a 
trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house 
of Jacob their sins : (a) as if it required the severest reproof. 
Yet they seek ?ne daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation 
that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their 
God : they ask of me the ordinances of justice ; they take de- 
light in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say 
they, and thou seest not P Wherejore have we afflicted our said, 
and thou takest no knowledge t Behold, in the day of your fast 
ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors. Behold, ye fast for 
strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness : ye 
shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard 
on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen P a day for a man 
to afflict his soul P Is it to bow down his head as a bidrush, and 
to spread sackcloth and ashes under him P Wilt thou call this a 
fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord P What shall we say 
to this ? Does God condemn what he before commanded ? By 
no means. — How then ? Why, he detests their abiding by the 
letter of the law, and placing their confidence in so indifferent a 
thing. He declares in both places, what he further requires 

1 « Under the law God did not bind us to so great a measure of 
virtue as under the gospel : then it was permitted to take revenge, 
to revile them that reviled us, exact " an eye for an eye, a tooth for 
a tooth:" but since the coming of Christ, the way to heaven is 
made more difficult and narrow ; both by the addition of many^new 
precepts, and by straining those given to a much higher key." 
Chrysostom de Virg. c. 41% Vide Matt. v. 21—48. and note p. 12. 
ante. 

{a) Isai. lviii. 1- -5. 



Rule V. On placing our Affections. 125 

of them. Thus, chap. i. 16, 17. he says, Wash you, make you 
clean ; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; 
cease to do evil : learn to do well. Does he not give the pre- 
ference to the spiritual and inner man ? For he knoweth the se- 
crets of the heart, [a) and judges, not as men by the outward 
senses, but by the inward motions of the heart. 

He regards not the foolish virgins, (b) that are all glorious 
without, but vain and empty within ; neither accepts them that 
approach him with their lips only, saying, Lord, Lord, (c) He 
instructs us, that the spiritual life consists not in rites and cere- 
monies, but in love of our neighbour, (d) Seek judgment, relieve 
the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow, (e) He 
subjoins in the other place, (/*) Is not this the fast that I have cho- 
sen ? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens,and 
to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke ? Is it 
not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor 
that are cast out to thy house ; when thou seest the naked, that 
thou cover him ; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own 
flesh P 

What shall a christian do ? Shall he despise all the com* 
mands of the Church ? Shall he condemn all institutions ? By 
ho means. On the contrary, if he be strong, and they are not 
repugnant to the express laws of God, but conducive to real 
piety, he will observe them, that he may not offend a weak bro- 
ther by his knowledge, and slay a soul for which Christ died, (g) 
But he must never forget it is the invisible act of the mind with 
which God is pleased. He is a Spirit, and requires spiritual 
offerings, (h) 

The Romanists think that God is greatly influenced by the 
smoke of incense, as if he was corporeal ; whereas he is a most 
pure and uncompounded Spirit. They call a lighted taper a 
sacrifice •, but the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit : a bro- 



(a) Ps. xliv. 21. (6) Matt. xxv. -(c) Matt. vii. 21. 1 Sara. xv. 22. 

Jer. vi. 20. (d) Mark xii. SI. (e) Isai. i. 17. (/') Tsai. lviii. 6,7. 

(g) Rom. xiv. 13. Phil. ii. 14. 2 Peter ii. 9, 10. Ephes. iv 1— d. 
(/*) John iv. 23, 



126 The Christian's Manual. 

ken and a contrite hearty O God, thou wilt not despise, (a) Offer 
to God the reasonable sacrifice, which he requires. 

You may put on the semblance of devotion ; but if your mind 
be disfigured with the filth of uncleanness, and covetousness, 
what is this to the purpose ? Do you keep an outward silence ? 
take care then that your mind be all peace and quietness. You 
bend the knee often in the Church ; yet if in the temple of your 
heart you are stubborn and refractory against the Lord, all this 
is of no avail, (b) 

Do you worship and prostrate your body before a wooden 
cross ? reverence the hidden mystery of the cross. If you ab- 
stain from such meats, as nevertheless do not defile the man ; 
why cannot you refrain from obscene discourses, by which your 
conscience, and other men's, are defiled ? (c) Thus you reduce 
your body ; but your soul feeds on husks with swine. You 
adorn a temple built of stone, but are negligent of your mind, 
that temple, which is polluted with all the abominations of the 
Egyptians. 

You rest from your bodily labors on the Lord's day ; " but 
your bosom is all tumultuous. You do not commit adultery ; 
but you are guilty of covetousness, that great corruption of the 
mind. You sing loudly, but what does your conscience whis- 
per ? (d) You hear the word of God with your outward ears 5 
hut it would be better to hear and digest it inwardly, (e) You 
read in the gospel how that seeing, they see not ,♦ and hearings 
they hear not ; neither do they understand, (f) Happy then 
are they that receive the word of God inwardly. 

The Romanists go a pilgrimage to Jerusalem ; when all 

1 " A true christian observes the Lord's day by expelling evil 
thoughts, and entertaining good ones ; and glorifying the resurrec- 
tion of the Lord." Clemens Alex. Stromal. L. vii. p. 535. (An. 204.) 

Our religion is not simply to be exhibited once a week at religious 
assemblies, but hourly in our manners. 

(a) Ps. li. 16, If. Isai. lvii. 15. (b) Titus i. 16. 1 John v. 21. 

(r) Mat. xv. 1 1, 18, 19. Epbes. iv. 29. (d) Matt. xv. 7, 8. (e) John xiii. 
17. James i. 22-27. (/; Matt. xiii. 13. 



Rule V. On placing our Affections. 127 

Egypt and Babylon dwell in them. To tread in Christ's steps 
with their feet is nothing ; but to follow his example in affec- 
tion is the grand point. You who confess your sins to a man, 
ought you not rather to be careful after what manner you ac- 
knowledge them before God-, for confession to him implies a 
thorough hatred of sin. (a) l You may think that your crimes 



1 u The Church of Rome by their doctrines concerning confes- 
sion and absolution, concerning contrition and superstitious penan- 
ces, indulgences, and the power of the keys, have greatly con- 
founded the doctrine of the gospel, concerning the forgiveness of 
sins, with corruptions introduced merely by the vanity and ambi- 
tion of man; for the text on which they ground their pretended 
power doth plainly mean not to appoint man to sit in God's seat 
of judgment, but to authorize them from God to preach and to 
assure unto man the terms and conditions on which alone their sins 
shall be forgiven them. « Whose soever sins ye remit" not according 
to your own will and pleasure, but whatsoever sins ye remit, (John 
xx. 23.) by executing your commission, by publishing the gospel, 
which I have authorised you from God to preach to the world, 
** they are remitted unto them." 

* e Among the protestants also the error is no less dangerous, if 
confessing their sins continually to God, as the Romanists do to the 
priests, they return again to the practice of them, as having been 
absolved in course j for such confessions, whether to God or to the 
priest, are but mockeries of religion ; without real amendment and 
reformation of manners, there is no such thing as forgiveness of 
sins." Clarke Expos, of the Catech. p. 135. 

" The Church of Rome to the two sacraments of our Lord's in- 
stitution, has, without any authority, added five : 1. Confirmation, 
which is not at all another sacrament, but merely a circumstance 
or appendage of baptism : a rite or ceremony, by which baptized 
persons solemnly and publicly declare, and take upon themselves 
their baptismal vow. 2. Penance, which is nothing but an arbi- 
trary discipline imposed wholly arid solely by mere human autho- 
rity. 3. Extreme unction, which is an absurd superstition built 
Upon a gross misinterpretation of a single passage in St. James's 

(a) P». xxxviii. 17. Lament, iii. 40. 2 Cor. vii. 10. James iv. 8—10. 



128 The Christian's Manual, 

will be blotted out by a small present, a short pilgrimage* of 
by offering a few waxen images \ but you are utterly mis- 



Epistle, v. 14-, 15. where direction being given for anointing the 
sick with oil, in order to a miraculous recovery, that the Lord may 
raise him up, and his sins be forgiven him ; the Church of Rome 
has thence invented an extreme unction for such as are past reco- 
very, in order to their salvation in the world to come. 4. Ordina- 
tion, which is not a sacrament, but merely a designation of certain 
particular persons to a particular office. 5. Matrimony, which has 
no other pretence to be called a sacrament, but only because St, 
Paul, in his comparing it with the union, which is between Christ 
and his church, calls that similitude, " a great mystery" Ephes. v. 
32. which the Latin translator ignorantly and ridiculously renders 
a great sacrament." Clarke, Expos. Catech. p. 283. 

The annexed form of absolution is from " Anthony Eganc's B.D. late 
Confessor General of the kingdom of Ireland,-and now through the 
mercy of God, minister of the gospel according to the reformed reli* 
gion, Book of Rates, now used in the sin custom-house of the Church 
and Court of Rome, containing Dispensations and Pardons for all 
manner of villainies and wickedness. For it is a shame even to 
speak of those things which are done of them in secret" Ephes. v. 12. 
Quarto, 1674. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ absolve thee ; and by virtue of his autho* 
rity with which I am charged, I do absolve thee; First, from all 
the bonds of excommunication, whether great or small, (if the peni- 
tent shall be a clerk) he says, from all suspensions or interdictions, 
which you have at any time incurred. I also absolve thee from 
all thy sins, and from all torments du^e to thee in purgatory for 
thy sins and transgressions ; and I restore thee to the union and 
participation of* the Church, and by virtue of a special authority to 
me committed for this purpose, I restore thee to that innocency in 
which thou wast at the time of baptism. And if thou die not at 
this time, I reserve to thee this grace for the hour of death ; in the 
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. 

By the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the merits of 
the ever blessed virgin Mary, and of all the saints and virgins, that 
whatever good you have done, and the afflictions you have patient- 



Rule V. On placing our Affections. 129 

taken. For as your wound is inward, so likewise must be 
your medicine. Your inclinations are perverted, — you have 



ly borne, shall be unto thee a remission of sins, increase of grace, 
and a reward of life everlasting. Amen. Peace be with you. 

To display the infamy and rapacity of the Church of Rome, I 
have extracted from A. Egane's Book a few specimens of the 
prices of Absolutions and Dispensations. 

Page 10. A layman having murdered a priest shall 

be pardoned for - - - - £6 2 
He that kills a bishop, or any other prelate, 

must p^y 36 90 

Page 11. For murdering a layman, the dispensation is 3 2 4 
Page 15. An absolution, or other dispensation for irre- 
gularity, is- - - - -5 13 
And if there be a general absolution for all 

sins, it is t 8 19 

Page 16. Dispensation of an oath, or contract - 7 2 3 

Page 18. Dispensation for doing contrary to the New 

Testament, the ordinary tax hereof is 12 16 6 

Here we see the comparative value of a priest and layman ! 

In the year 1497, John Giglis, an Italian, who was then made 
Bishop of Worcester by the Pope, received a power to pardon all 
crimes and to permit persons to retain property unjustly seized, 
provided they gave a portion of it to the Pope's Commissaries. 
Wharton Anglia sacra. Bill. Univ. xxii. 90. cited by Jortin, Life of 
Erasmus, vol. I. p. 115. 

" In the year 1555, one William Smyth wick, of the diocese 
of Bath, Esq. had obtained a very large indulgence from 
Rome. For which, no question, the said gentleman was very libe- 
ral, which caused that court to show herself so liberal again. It 
was, that he, and any five of his friends whom he should nominate, 
(excepting regulars) such as were married, and their children 
of both sexes, should enjoy many extraordinary indulgences upon 
his petition to the Pope, who then was Paul IV. which petition was 
graciously accorded to by that Pope, and the Bull ran for indul- 
gence to Smythwick, and his five friends, and their children, (as was 
petitioned) that is to say, « from all sentences of excommunication, 

Ch. Ma. I 



130 . „ Hie Christian's Manual. 

loved what ought to have been your aversion, and hated what 
deserved your affection : you have taken " bitter for sweet, and 
sweet for bitter." (a) It signifies nothing what outward pre- 
tences you make, unless you are changed inwardly ; [b) and de- 
suspension and interdict, and other censures ecclesiastical upon 
whatever occasion or cause inflicted, transgressions of any vows or 
commands of the church, guilt of perjuries, and of homicide, whe- 
ther casual or mental, laying violent hands upon any ecclesiastical 
persons, excepting prelates dc preterite, omissions in whole or in 
part of fasts, ■cusQnical hours, divine offices, penances enjoined : 
also, from all and singular their sins whereof they are contrite and 
confessed, although they were such for which the apostolic see 
were to be consulted. " Likewise, many other indulgences were by 
virtue hereof granted, as to have a portable altar, to receive the sa- 
crament privately ; that in Lent, and in other fasting times of the 
year, they might eat eggs, butter, cheese, and other milk meats, and 
flesh without scruple of conscience." Strjjpe. Life of Sir Thomas 
Smithy p. 60. 

Erasmus in his Colloquy " of Rash Vows," discoursing df in- 
dulgences, remarked, " Men choose rather to venture their salvation 
upon a skin of parchment, than upon the amendment of their lives." 
And in his " Praise of Folly," observed, " Such impious Popes 
destroy the main design and effect of our redemption by their pe- 
cuniary bribes and sales : and adulterate the gospel by their forced 
interpretations and undermining traditions." 

Cyprian, speaking of the restoration of the lapsed into the 
communion of the church, on repentance, says : — 

" We pretend not to anticipate the judicial sentence of God m 
his future judgment ; so that if he finds the sinner's repentance to 
be full and satisfactory, then he may ratify and confirm our sen- 
tence ; as on the other hand, if any one should impose upon us with 
counterfeit appearances of repentance: God who is not mocked, 
(Gal. vi. 7-) and who looketh on the heart, (1 Sam. xvi. 7.) may 
judge more exactly, when we could not see to the bottom of the 
case; and the master may then correct the sentence of his ser- 
vants."— Epist. lv. S. 10. (A. D. 252.) 

(a) Isaj. v. 20. (b) p;phcs. iv. 23. 



Rule V. On placing our Affections. 131 

test what you loved, and relish what seemed offensive. This 
would be a good evidence of your recovery. 

Mary Magdalen loved much, therefore, her sins, which were 
many, were forgiven, [a) The more you love Christ, the more 
will your faults disgust you •, for a hatred of vice follows the 
love of goodness. 

We shall find not only in these examples, but in the old, and 
new law, in a man's self, and in all human affairs, that there are 
two distinct parts, the flesh without and the spirit within. We 
must not rely on the things seen, any further than they 
lead to what is far preferable ; (Z>) but always look forward to 
the gifts of the spirit, and charity : (c) by w*hich means we shall 
not be, as many are, intolerant, unhappy, and dispirited, always 
children, and carnal, lethargic, stupid, contentious, envious, 
slanderous t but mighty through Christ, rooted in charity, equal 
in all states and conditions, regardless of small matters, ambi^ 
tious of the highest, always joyful, and fruitful in the know- 
ledge of the scriptures , which they who reject, will them- 
selves be rejected by an all-knowing God. Wickedness and 
ignorance, accompanied with an unteachable disposition, induce 
men to trust in petty observances, and tenets ; to talk arrogant- 
ly, and to be superstitiously and meanly bigoted to ceremonies. 
Isaiah expressly sets forth their forlorn state of bondage. There- 
fore, says he, my people are gone into captivity, because they 
have no knowledge. And their honorable men are famished, and 
their midtitude dried up with thirst, (d) It is astonishing that 
persons professing Christianity, should die of hunger and thirst. 
And what is the reason they perish with hunger ? because they 
do not break the bread (e) offered to them by Christ , but content 
themselves with feeding on the bran, without the meal. And 
why do they languish with thirst ? because they drink not of 
the pure waters that flow from Christ, (f) This is to be taken 
in a spiritual sense. 



(a) Luke vii. 37. viii. 2. (b) 2 Cor. iv. 18. (c) 1 Cor. xiv. 1. (d) v. 13, 
14. (e) John vi. 48. (/) John iv. 14. 



132 The Christian's Manual. 

Therefore, brethren, that we may no longer weary ourselves 
with grievous and fruitless pains, but by moderate exercise soon 
become strong men in Christ : let us, in obedience to this rule, 
not crawl like mean insects upon earth ; but soar from the 
letter to the sense, from body to spirit, from the visible world 
to the invisible, from compounded to pure : mounting thus step 
by step, as it were by Jacob's ladder, from earth to heaven, (a) 
If in this manner we daily approach God, striving to escape out 
of our present darkness, and shutting our ears against the din 
of sense ; he will meet us graciously, (b) 



RULE VI. 

That Christ is the only pattern of Christians : and of 
vulgar errors in morality. 

This rule is regarded by few, although necessary to the salva- 
tion of all men. For he who aspires to the high rewards of Chris- 
tianity, must be as unlike the multitude as possible, in their 
opinions and actions ; and consider Christ as the true pattern 
of holiness. ■ He is the only perfect model, and from which the 

1 " No example, (Christ's only excepted) did ever reach that rule 
according to which we are always obliged to order our hearts and 
lives. A man may fully fall in with the forwardest follower of 
Jesus Christ, and yet fall far short of conformity to God's commands. 
That blessed apostle, who propounds himself a pattern for imitation, 
having his conversation in heaven, yet thus speaks of himself, " Not 
as thovgk 1 had already attained, either was already perfect;" (Phil.iiu 
12.) and that beloved disciple John tells us, " And every man thai 

(a) Gen. xxviii. 12. (b) Matt. vii. 7. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 133 

least departure is criminal, and will, like a false direction, mis- 
lead you. How pernicious must it be, to establish false opini- 
ons in matters that concern our salvation ? Whatever any one 
is convinced of, that he will express in his demeanour. Chris- 
tians therefore should make it their chief care, to inspire their 
children with sentiments worthy of Christ, from their infancy, ' 
and amid the caresses of their parents ; nothing makes so strong 
an impression, as the characters stamped on tender minds. Far, 
very far from infant ears be removed those irreligious, immoral, 
licentious, and obscene songs, airs, melodies, and ballads, which 
persons professing themselves christians sing. a Neither let 



hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (l John 
iii. 3.) Ash. and Wall, in Pre/, to Clark's Eccles. Histor. S. 4. 

1 " Parents ought to afford these three things to their children, 
correction, admonition and instruction, both in God's word and 
human arts, which preserve them from idleness and folly, give 
them wisdom, and learn them subjection and obedience to their 
superiors." Ignatius, (died A, D. 111.) 

2 Let me exhort every parent to banish such insidious composi- 
tions ; — the direct tendency is to destroy the modesty of youth, and 
canker the morals : whoever doubts this, let him impartially ana- 
lyze, and contemplate the baneful ingredients. 

" Song, fashionably fruitless ; such as stains 

The fancy, and unhallow'd passion fires, 

Chiming her saints to Cytherea'sfane." 

Young, Night ii. 
" I grant the muse 

Has often blush'd at her degen'rate sons, 

Retain'd by sense to plead her filthy cause, 

To raise the low, to magnify the mean, 

And subtilize the gross into refin'd." lb. Night v. 

The Chinese emperor Yao (An. 2357 B. C.) " delighted in music, 
but it was a grave, modest, and pious music : he detested nothing 
so much as songs wherein modesty and civility were blemished. It 
was not a capricious humour that made him dislike these sort of 
songs ; it was the desire he had of rendering himself in all things 
pleasing unto heaven." Vide Morals of Confucius, abr. p. 79. Lon- 
doti, 1691. 



134 The Christian's Manual. 

How many poems, novels, romances, and tales, are alike poi- 
sonous ! 

Plato banished poets his commonwealth. Lib. 3. de Repab. 
Cicero exclaimed, " Do you see what mischief poets do ? for they 
bring upon the stage great souls depressed, they enervate us ; then 
so inviting are they, as not only to b? read, but learnt by heart. 
Thus to the force of bad education, and luxurious life, the poets add 
their charms ; they debase the soul. Therefore, Plato did well to 
exclude them a well ordered state." Tusc. I. ii. s. xi. 

And Cicero considered the poets so injurious, that he ascribed the 
corruption of mankind to them. lb. lib.iu. s. ii. 

These remarks are not applicable to the sublime compositions of 
Milton, Young, and a few others, but to the dissolute effusions of 
most. — -This is not the place for criticism, yet, I warn the poet not 
to degrade talents designed for the moral improvement of himself 
and society, to impure rhyme. Let not the christian be lost in the 
poet. Sir Philip Sidney, once the eloquent advocate in defence of 
poetry, and Cowley, bewailed their unguarded productions. Sir 
Philip Sidney, in his last moments, desired his friends to sup- 
press the Arcadia. 

" A well-worked poem is a powerful piece of imposture : it mas- 
ters the fancy, and hurries it nobody knows where ; if, therefore, we 
would be governed by reason, let us stand off from the temptation ; 
such pleasures can have no good meaning ; like delicious morsels, 
they subdue the palate, and flatter us only to cut our throats ; let 
us prefer reality to appearance, service to show, and eternity to 
time." Cyprian, c. 22. (died A. D. 259.) 

" Licentious and immodest songs are abominable and offensive; 

you laugh when you should frown, and commend what you ought 

to abhor." Chrysosto?)), 37 Homily, on Matth. xi. (flour. AnAOO.) 

" They vitiate and corrupt the mind." ib. in Psal. 117. torn. iii. 

p. 358. 

" Of all kinds of discourse, none is more unsafe, more despica- 
ble, than that which breaks in upon modesty, and good manners." 
Epict. c. iv. 

" Above all things, we must be extremely cautious that our dis r 
course betrays no defect in our morals." Cicero, 0[!ic. /. 1. c. 
xxxvii. 

" The early christians," says Tertullian, {An. 198.) " stood at a 
distance from whatever was offensive either to their eyes, or 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 135 

them see their mother excessively bewailing the decease of rela- 

ears ; their ears they stopped against all idle, and loose songs, all 
obscene discourses : their eyes they shut . against all indelicate ' ob- 
jects, and all indecent pictures." Admonit. ad grcrc. p. 40. 

I wish such works as " Chesterfield's Letters," and all books of 
maxims for the conduct of life, were excluded every library. Their 
effect is to substitute hypocrisy for sincerity, craftiness for goodness; 
in short, to render us accomplished sycophants and knaves. 

Where can equal fine maxims be found as in the Gospel, and so 
conducive to that charity, Matt. xix. 19. vii. 12. 1 Cor. xiii. 
which is the source of true politeness ? A christian is the most ac- 
complished gentleman. 

I must raise my voice against masquerades — here folly, licen- 
tiousness, and irreligion, free from the shackles of shame and re- 
proach, boldly riot : how unbecoming the holy profession of christi- 
ans! " A good, man, out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth 
good things : and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth 
evil things. But J say unto you, that every idle word that men shall 
speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment /' Matt. 
xii. 35, 36. " Lit no corrupt communication proceed out of your 
mouth." Ephes. iv. 29. " nor foolish talking, nor jesting." v. 4. 
" The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither 
shall a man put on a woman's garment : for all that elo so, are abomi- 
nation unto the Lord thy God." Deut. xxii. 5. 

Gisborne, in his elegant and admired " Enquiry into the duties of 
the female sex," discoursing upon the evil effects of masquerades, 
observes, " Let every woman remember that modes of amusement 
intrinsically wrong, or in any respect unbecoming the female sex, 
are not transformed into innocent recreations by the countenance 
of numbers, nor by the sanction, if they should obtain the sanction, 
of nobility, or of a court. Let her prefer eternity to time ; amuse- 
ment is not the end of our being — but preparation for another and 
a better world." p. 148. 

" If a public entertainment be of such a nature and tendency, 
that it ought on moral considerations to be laid aside, every per- 
son is bound, in point of moral duty, to discountenance it." ;;. 159. 

" Your eternal happiness, or misery, is involved — is this a trifle :'--*• 
do not deceive yourself. Remember, then, these two plain and 



136 The Christian's Manual. 

tions or friends. z Let them not hear their father extolling 

momentous rules of conduct, at which we have arrived. First, that 
on every occasion you are to act precisely in that manner, which 
you believe that moral rectitude would of itself require you to adopt, 
independently of any reference to effects, which may be produced 
by your example. And secondly, that whatever may be your sta- 
tion in life, there is no case in which your example cannot do harm, 
nor any in which it may not do good." p. 165. 

Every woman should possess this pleasing book ; the manners of 
the age depend on female deportment. 

I do not censure the delights of rational society, and the sweet 
exchange of sentiment. 

" Needful auxiliars are our friends, to give 
The social man true relish of himself." Young, N. ii. 

Man is a social animal, yet he is also a reasonable and immortal 
one, herein he differs from brutes. 

Cicero says, " Our plays and recreations must also be kept within 
their due bounds ; and care should be taken that we do not run 
into great excesses, and suffer the pleasure, which we take in them, 
to carry us into any thing that is base or unbecoming." Offic. I. 1. 
c. xxix. 

And Plutarch observes, " Philosophy is the art of living, and 
therefore must be admitted into every part of our conversation, and 
into all our amusements, to regulate and keep them from excess." 
Symposiacs, b. 1. Q. 1. 

1 I would not have you to be ignorant y brethren, concerning them 
which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no 
hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them 
also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. 1 Thes. iv. 13, 14. 
Prosper, bishop of Rhegium, (died 4:66) on his death-bed, thus 
solaced his friends, " The life, which I have enjoyed, was given 
me upon condition to render it up again, not sorrowfully, but glad- 
ly ; for me to have continued here might seem better for you ; 
but for me it is better to be dissolved." 

The reverend Bede said, " The time is come if my Creator 
pleases, that being freed from the flesh, I shall go to him who made 
me, when I was not, out of nothing ; I have lived long, and the 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 137 

the man that has raised an immense fortune, although by the 

time of my dissolution is approaching, and my soul desires to see 
my Saviour Christ in his glory," Died 735. 

The pious wife of the learned Bentley in her last moments 
exclaimed, " It is'all bright, it is all glorious." 

Imitate David upon the death of his child. « While the child 
was yet alive, I fasted and 'wept : for I said, who can tell whether God 
will be gracious to me, that the child may live f But now he is dead, 
wherefore should I fast P can I bring him bach again ? I shall go to 
him, but he shall not return to me." 2 Sam. xii. 22, 23. 

Bear the event with resignation, say, " thy will be done" and 
remember you have a duty to perform to the living, and that 
an indulgence of grief will disqualify you. The deceased is 
removed from this chequered life, to where the wicked cease from 
troubling ; and the weary are at rest. Job iii. 17. 

" Why then their loss deplore, that are not lost ? 

Why wanders wretched thought their tombs around 

In Infidel distress." Young, Night i. 
I must condemn funeral state. When it is time to put on the 
winding sheet, should not vanity be put away? Do we deck a 
casket with a costly case, when the jewel is removed ? Why orna- 
ment a deserted earthly mansion, that must soon moulder into dust ? 
Why convey the body to a'distant grave, when the spirit has return- 
ed to God ? Reflect, that while you are adorning an empty taberna- 
cle, some of your living brethren are in want of clothing, and others 
are tortured with disease, destitute of one of the numerous comforts 
the deceased enjoyed. Will you not succour them, instead of lavish- 
ing your money on idle pomp? Will you not prefer cheering the 
dejected pauper, to paying mourners for all the solemn mockeries 
of grief ? Why not lay the body in a plain woollen cloth and coffin, 
and carry it to the nearest cemetry out of a town; or rather 
imitate the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, who buried in fields or gar- 
dens : during the first centuries of Christianity, this admirable cus- 
tom was observed. The law of the twelve tables provided, that 
none but Emperors and Vestal Virgins should be interred in the 
city. It is an offensive practice to deposit the corpse in a church or 
church-yard in a town, on account of the putrid exhalations. If the 



138 The Christian's Manual. 

most execrable means. For the corrupt nature of mart imme- 
diately copies vice, as gunpowder fires at the least spark. 

This foundation is best laid in childhood -, 1 yet in every age it 
is our business to extirpate evil opinions, and to plant such good 
principles, as when they have taken root, can never be shaken. In 
every virtue, knowledge is so material, that vice is chiefly sup- 
ported by false and absurd opinions. Thus they who love Christ, 
and they who love pleasure, money, or vain-glory, alike pursue 
what seems fair and pleasant. But the latter are in ah error, taking 
that which is loss for gain, and gain for loss j esteeming that 

" ' ' iii m i ■ ■■ i ■. ■ i .11. — — mmmmmm . 

dissection of our earthly remains will increase medical skill, we 
should direct it, that the pangs of others may be mitigated. 

1 " To honor our Parents, is to make them suitable returns of love 
and affection ; to obey, respect and submit to them, not only to the 
gentle but even to the froward ; in all things just, in all things law- 
ful, in all things honest and of good report. And, when persons 
are grown up to years of discretion, still in matters of great concern 
in life, to consult, and be advised by them, as far as reason, piety 
and gratitude shall require — to afford their parents a reasonable 
support and provision, in the time of age and necessity." 

« As in nature all influences and operations are mutual, so in all 
relations, there is a reciprocal duty. It is to be understood, that 
parents are by this commandment required to love, support, instruct, 
and be gentle towards their children." Clarke Expos.Catech. p. 184, 5. 

Ye fathers, provoke not your children to luruth ; but bring them up 
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephes. vi. 4. Col. iii. 
21. 2 Tim. iii. 15. 

Parents should never delight themselves by capricious and unna- 
tural partialities for their children — each child has a right to an 
equal share of affection— unmerited favoritism produces envy and 
disagreement. 

" Nothing can more recommend, and adorn a young man, than 
temperance and sobriety ; duty and respect to his natural parents, 
love and goodness towards his friends and 'relations." — Cicero Offic. 
I. ii. c. xiii. 

Honor thy Father 1 , and thy Mother. Matt. xix. 19. He that 
curseth his Father or Mother, let him die the death, xv. 4. Prov. xx. 
20. The eye that mocketh at his Father, and despiseth to obey ki$ 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 139 

honorable, which is shameful ; and that shame, which is real 
honor. Whosoever is persuaded, that virtue * is best, most 
honorable, and most beautiful :, — and that vice is the only evil, 
ever base, ugly, scandalous, pernicious, and its own tormentor ; 



Mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles 
shall eat it. xxx. 17. A fool despiseth his Father's instruction : but 
he that regardeth reproof is 'prudent, xv. 5. Children, obey your 
parents in all things ; for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Col. 
hi. 20. 

What ingratitude not to repay the fond solicitude of our parents 
with reverential demeanour ! The Athenians decreed undutiful 
sons ineligible to public offices, upon the principle that they were 
incapable of just or noble actions. Shall we ungenerously murmur 
at the temper or caprice of our parents, instead of piously submit- 
ting ? How often have our cries pierced the maternal heart, and 
affection hushed them ! how gladly have our numerous wants been 
anticipated ! can we forget parental watchfulness over the bed of 
sickness ; each broken slumber, and altered look, discovered by the 
vigilant eye of love- — their kind admonitions, instructions, and re- 
gard for our welfare ! Be it our care in return for such benefits, 
not to ruffle the venerable brow, or by our misconduct, imprint 
one furrow on the cheek ; but to smooth the pillow of declining 
age, by the tenderest offices. 

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way ? by tahing heed 
thereto according to thy word. Ps. cxix. 9. Remember now thy 
Creator in the days of thy youth. Eccles. xii. 1. Flee also youthful 
lusts ; but follow righteousness, faith, chanty, peace, with them that 
call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 2 Tim. ii. 22. Be sober-minded. 
Titus ii. 6. 

Children should cultivate domestic harmony by mutual kindness 

and forbearance. " Behold, how good and how pleasant a thing it is 

for brethren to dwell together in unity !" Ps. exxxiii. 2 for " a brother 

offended is harder to be won than a strong city ; and their contentions 

are Wee the bars of a castle." Prov. xviii: 19. 

1 " Virtue consists in that integrity, firmness, and stability of soul, 
whereby we honestly and steadfastly persist, in spite of all tempta- 



140 The Christian's Manual, 

and all tliis not from common estimation, but by weighing the 
nature of things, he cannot long continue in vicious habits. 
The vulgar have been always considered bad models, and the 
many have always been on the wicked side. Think not with your- 
self, I do but as other men do, or as my father* did before me : (n) 
such a Philosopher, or Divine, is of that opinion ; thus the nobi- 
lity live •, the King himself sets the example ; the Bishops and 
other Divines, do the same \ — and surely these are not the vul- 
gar. Be not moved by great names ; by the vulgar I do not 
allude to men's state and condition in life, but their hearts. They 
are the vulgar, whatever their station is, who chained by their 
lusts and affections, adore shadows for substances. Would it 
not be absurd, to fit the rule to the stone, instead of squaring 
the stone by the rule ? It would be much more preposterous to at- 
tempt to reconcile Christ to men's manners •, rather than to bring 
them in obedience to him. Therefore you are not to conclude 
a thing is right, because it is done by the great, or by the genera- 
lity : unless it is also conformable to the will of Christ. x So far 
is usage from being a rule of action, that it is of itself a reason- 

tions to the contrary, in the love and practice of moral good ; and 
the hatred and forbearance of moral evil ; vice is the contrary of 
this." Johnson, Elements of Philosophy. Introd. cxli. 

" We must be firmly persuaded that we ought not to be guilty 
of avarice, injustice, sensuality, or intemperance. If we practise good- 
ness, not for its intrinsic excellence, but with a view to private ad- 
vantage, we are cunning, and not good men. What will not that 
man do in the dark, who fears nothing but a witness and a judge ! " 
Cic. Offic. 

1 " There is no such thing as judgment or truth to be met with 
amongst the vulgar, for they discern nothing." Tacitus. 

z "To suppose virtue depending upon the opinions of men, and 
the custom of nations, is to suppose, that which shall be accounted 
the virtue of a man, depends merely upon imagination, or custom 
to determine ; and is as absurd, as it would be, to affirm that the 
fruitfulness of a tree, or the strength of a horse, depends only upon 

(«.) Ephes. v. 7. 1 Tim. v. 22. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian'' s pattern. 141 

able ground of suspicion. It is a very little Jlock, (a) that delight 
in Christian piety, humility, charity, sobriety, truth and sincerity. 
A small, but a blessed congregation ; for they alone are entitled 
to the kingdom of heaven. The path of virtue is narrow, and 
trodden by few •, and yet there is no other that leads unto 
life, (b) Does a good architect borrow his plan from the most 
common, or from the best model of building ? Does not a 
painter copy after the finest portrait ? Christ, in like manner, is 
our great pattern and example, who alone points out the certain 
way to happiness. As for all others, however good or great, 
they are no further to be imitated, than they follow Christ. 
You are to think most persons bad judges of morals. * What 
their belief is let them consider. But faith without the good 

the imagination of those who judge it." 

" If virtue had its origin from men, and could be changed by 
them, then all the commands of the most cruel tyrants would be as 
just and equitable, as the wisest laws that ever were made ; and to 
murder men without distinction, to confound the rights of all fami- 
lies by the grossest forgeries, to rob with unrestrained violence, to 
break faith continually, defraud and cheat without reluctance, might 
by the decree and ordinance of a mad assembly, be made lawful 
and honest ; if any man think that the votes and suffrages of fools 
have such power, as to be able to change the nature of things, why 
do they not likewise decree that poisonous things may become 
wholesome, and that any other thing which is now destructive to 
mankind, may become preservative of it ?" Cicero de legib. lib. 1. 

" Most vulgar opinions are erroneous and false ; not excepting 
even those that are received with the greatest reverence and 
applause. Nor are these notions false only; but, what is worse, very 
many of them mischievous to human society and the public 
good." 

1 What barbarity to encourage boxing, and cudgel fighting ! 
men delight in seeing their brethren maimed ; we " are taught of 
God to love one another?' 1 Thess. iv. 9. and that " blessed are the 
peacemaker \9, for they shall be called the children of God." Matt. v. 9. 
yet we allure our fellow-creatures into bloody contests. The ama- 

(a) Luke xii. 82. (b) Matt. vii. 13, 14. 



142 The Christian's Manual. 

works (a) which it ought to produce, is so far from being me« 
ritorious, that it will increase their damnation. (£) How con- 



teurs, or " gentlemen of the fancy," in excuse pretend that boxing 
inspires a noble spirit, and excludes the use of the stiletto ; are Bri- 
tons so degenerated, as to require premeditated combats to pre- 
serve them from imitating cowardly assassins ? no, and if they were, 
how could men professing themselves disciples of Christ, adopt that 
nefarious maxim, to do evil that good may come ? 

Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, prohibited the combats 
of the Gladiators, (An. 317.) and although they were revived by 
his successors ; Honorius finally abolished them. 

Man, not content with disturbing the tranquillity of human 
society, invades that of other animals, and is gratified by viewing the 
infuriated bull, tormented by the bleeding mastiff: and because the 
natural spur of the cock is too blunt a weapon of attack, equips 
him with deadly steel.. Thus man abuses his reason. God created 
man in Ids own image, Gen. i. 27. having thus imparted his moral 
attributes of mercy, tenderness, compassion, &c. he gave him domi- 
nion over every living thing. 28. It would be tedious to enumerate 
every instance of cruelty ; " A righteous man regardeth the life of his 
beast" Prov. xii. 10. 

Maxwell, in his general remarks, on c. v. of Cumberland's Law 
of Nature, p. 302. observes " we cannot but imagine that the Deity 
takes pleasure in the happiness of all his creatures, that are Capable 
thereof. 

" The second reason for our benevolence towards brutes is, that 
a merciful and compassionate behaviour towards them, feeds and 
cherishes that natural disposition : whereas, a barbarous and cruel 
treatment of those creatures, must undoubtedly have the same 
effect, to harden our temper, even against rational beings. 

" The third reason is, that it adds to our own happiness. A truly 
benevolent man receives pleasure, even from the happiness of the 
brute creation. " 

(a) James ii. 26. 
(b) Luke xii.. 47, 43. 1 Cor. xiii. 2. Gal. v. 6. 1 Tim. vi. 11. James 
ii. 14. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. MS 

temptible is honesty thought : and wealth, however acquired, 
honored and respected ! L 

"What abandoned luxury prevails ! How frequent are fornica- 
tion and adultery ; and how little disgraced ! Men connive at 
those faults in others, which they are guilty of themselves j and 
each thinks he may safely do, what others practise. How many 
think poverty the greatest evil, and a stigma! With the heathens 
it was usual, in their plays and entertainments, to throw * out 
bitter invectives against fornicators, adulterers, covetous persons 
and boasters ; and in their public shows, a good satire upon any 
of these vices, which are now in great fashion, was well 
received. 



1 (l If men want wealth, it is not to be unjustly obtained ; if they 
have it, they ought by good works to lay it up in heaven." 

1 " The early Christians abstained from sights, and shows, as 
they were the occasion of many gross enormities." Origen. lib. 7. 
p. 375. (An. 230.) 

" There is good reason why Christians should abstain from shows, 
pomps, and divertisements, in which they cannot be present without 
great sin and shame ; without affronting their modesty, and offering 
disgust and horror to their minds." Mimdius Felix, p. 30. {An, 
230.) 

" They solemnly engaged at their baptism to renounce the Devil 
and all his works, pomps, and pleasures, that is, says Cyril, the 
sights and sports of the theatre and such like vanities." CatecJu 
Myst. 1. p. 510. (Died An. 365.) 

«< Origen, speaking of the effects of Christianity, says, It restrains 
women from immodesty, and from the wild extravagancies of the 
sports and theatres." — p. 137. (An. 230.) 

Jeremy Collier, in "A' short view of the immorality and profane- 
ness of the English stage," most admirably proves the disgraceful 
liberties of the stage j he observes, " the business of plays is to re- 
commend virtue, and discountenance vice, but the use is perverted, 
and like cannon seized by the enemy, they a^e pointed the wrong 
way." Introd, 



144 The Christian's Manual. 

How many illustrious examples could I produce of men, who, 

Aristotle says " The force of music and action is very affecting. 
It commands the audience, and changes the passions to a resem- 
blance of the matter before them. So that where the representation 
is indelicate, the thoughts of the company must suffer." Polit. I. 8. 

Josephus records, that Herod was praised by strangers for erect- 
ing an amphitheatre at Jerusalem, " but his countrymen considered 
the thing as a manifest corruption of their ancient discipline and 
manners." Antiquities of the Jews. b. xv. c. ix.-* 

Cicero exclaims, " Licentious plays and poems are the bane of 
sobriety, and wise thinking : Comedy subsists upon indelicacy ; and 
pleasure is the root of all evil." Tnsc I. 4. cle Legib. I. 1. 

« Nothing is more destructive to good manners than to run idling 
to see sights, for there vice makes an insensible approach, and steals 
upon us in the disguise of pleasure." Seneca Epist. 7. 

Epictetus says, " We should not frequent the theatres." c. xlix. 

Tacitus observes, " The German women were guarded against 
danger, and kept their honor out of harm's way, by having no 
play-houses amongst them." Demor. German, c. 19. 

Plutarch says, " Plays are dangerous to young people." Sympo- 
siacs, libl\l. de audiend. poet. p. 15. Ed. Par. 

Speaking of the Romans, Cicero remarked, " Their predecessors 
considered all stage plays disreputable and scandalous, in so much 
that any Roman who turned actor, was not only to be degrad- 
ed, but likewise as it were disincorporated, and unnaturalized by 
order of the censors." De Repub. lib. 4. 

" In the Theodosian code, players are called « persons who- 
nesta" that is, persons maimed and blemished in their reputation." 
xv. Cod. Theod^tit. vii. p. 375. 

" Their function was counted scandalous by the civil law." L. 4. 

By 39 Eliz. c. 4. and 1 Jac. 17 Geo. II. c. 5. §. ii. they are 
classed with counterfeit Egyptians, and deemed rogues, vagabonds, 
and sturdy beggars, unless licensed. 25 Geo. II. c. xxxvi. 

Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, (An. 180) inter alia, says, "nei- 
ther dare we presume upon the liberty of your other shows, lest 
our senses should be tinctured, and offended with indecency and 
profaneness. God forbid that christians who are remarkable for 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 145 

after they had governed the common wealth, retired to the ma- 
modesty and reserve : who are trained up in Virtue, God forbid I 
say, that we should dishonor our thoughts, much less our practice, 
with such wickedness as this." Lib. 3. de Autolyc. 

Tertullian (An. 300) tells the heathens " We have nothing to do 
with the frenzies of the race-ground, the liberties of the playhouse, 
or the barbarities of the bear garden. Apol. c. 38, Xhe whole tribe 
of actors is thrown out of all honor and privilege ; they are nei- 
ther suffered to be lords nor gentlemen ; to come within the senate, 
or harangue the people." lb. c. 22. 

" Since, therefore, human prudence has thought fit to degrade 
the stage, notwithstanding the amusement of it : since pleasure can- 
not shelter the actors from censure, how will they be able to stand 
the shock of divine justice, and what reckoning have they reason to 
expect hereafter ?" lb. c. 23. 

" Will you not then avoid this seat of infection ? The very air suf- 
fers by their impurities, and they almost pronounce the plague. 
What though the performance may be in some measure pretty and 
entertaining ; what though innocence, yea, and virtue too, shine 
through some part of it ? It is not the custom to prepare poison 
unpalatable, nor make up arsenic with rhubarb and senna. No ; 
they must oblige the sense, and make the dose pleasant." lb. cap. 27. 

Clemens Alexandrinus observes, " If it is said these diversions are 
taken only to unbend the mind and refresh nature a little ; I an- 
swer, that the spaces between business should not be filled up with 
such rubbish ; a wise man has a guard upon his recreations, and 
always prefers the profitable to the pleasant. " Lib. 3. pczdag. (An. 
204) c. 1 1. 

Cyprian (An. 250) says, " What business has a christian at such 
places as these ? A christian, who has not the liberty so much as 
to think of an ill thing, why does he entertain himself with immo- 
dest representations ? Has he a mind to discharge his modesty ? 
Yes, this is the consequence ; by using to see the things he will learn 
to do them. What need I mention the levities and impertinence in 
comedies, or the ranting distractions of tragedy ?" De Spectaculis. 

a No school exists in which the elements of modish vice can be 

studied with greater promise of proficiency than the public theatres. 

When it is considered at what pains the managers of the stage are 

to import the seducing dramas of Germany as well as to get up 

Ch. Man. K 



146 The Christian's Manual. 

jjagement of tlieir domestic affairs, carrying nothing to their 

the loose productions of the English muse; when it is farther con- 
sidered how studious the actors and actresses are to do justice, and 
even more than justice, to the luscious scenes of the piece, tor give 
effect to the equivoques, by an arch emphasis, and to the oath by a 
dauntless intonation ; when to all this is added, how many painted 
strumpets are stuck about the theatre, iti the boxes, the galleries* 
and the avenues ; and how many challenges to prostitution are 
thrown out in every direction, it will, I think, be difficult to ima- 
ngie places better adapted than the theatres at this moment are, to 
teach the theory and practice of fashionable iniquity." Owen, 
" Fashionable World" p. 46. 

I recommend this little work as an antidote to modish de- 
pravity. 

'■ Zeuxis, a celebrated painter, represented a boy holding a dish 
of grapes so naturally, that the birds being deceived pecked the 
grapes ; but Zeuxis was wisely displeased with his workmanship, 
saying, " Had I made the boy as natural as the grapes, the birds 
would have been afraid to touch them." JFlin. Nat. Hist. Lib. 35. 
c. 10. " Thus two things are set forth to us in stage plays ; some 
p-rave sentences, prudent counsels, and punishment of vicious ex- 
amples ; snd with these, desperate oaths, obscene talk, and riotous 
acts, are insidiously personated. It seems the goodness is not pour- 
trayed with equal accents of liveliness, as the wicked things are : 
otherwise men would be deterred from vicious courses with seeing 
the woeful success which follows them." Fuller et Holy State" — 
" General Rules," b. iii. c. 13. s. 10. p. 173. 

Gisborne, in his " Enquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex," 
discoursing of the vicious tendency of the modern stage, after ad- 
mitting its comparative improvement, remarks ; " But has the 
change been complete ? Is the British stage now irreproachable : 
Does it exhibit no scenes which give pain to modest eyes, no lan- 
guage grating to modest ears ? Does it exhibit nothing which a 
christian need be ashamed of writing, of acting, of witnessing ? Or 
if it be still culpable, is it but rarely, and transiently ? Let those 
who are the best acquainted with the theatre answer these ques- 
tions to their own consciences."^. 173. 

« It is necessary that the general effect of the piece should be 
unequivocally virtuous. 

" What would not be endured by modest eyes and modest ears 
in a private company, ought not to be endured upon a &tage. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 14-7 

poor families, but the honor of having faithfully executed their 
office : — Of men, who valued integrity beyond money, and es- 
teemed virtue more than life ; 1 — who were never elated by 



" Among the usual causes by which female modesty is worn away, 
I know not one more efficacious, than the indelicate scenes and lan- 
guage, to which women are familiarized at the theatre." p. 178. 

And in allusion to private theatres, even admitting their freedom 
from the flagrant improprieties of the public stage, he observes, 
" Take the benefit of ail these favorable circumstances ; yet, what 
is even then the tendency of such amusements ? To encourage va- 
nity, to excite a thirst of applause and admiration, on account of 
attainments, which, if they are to be thus exhibited, it would com- 
monly have been far better for the individual not to possess ; to 
destroy diffidence by the unrestrained familiarity with persons of 
the other sex, which inevitably results from being joined with them 
in the drama ; to create a general fondness for the perusal of 
plays, of which so many are improper to be read ; and for attend- 
ing dramatic representations, of which so many are unfit to be wit- 
nessed." p. 183. 

These arguments against plays, and similar exhibitions, are ir- 
resistible — were they less conclusive, every christian must acknow- 
ledge, that if what is indifferent in itself, becomes the source of more 
evil than good, it should not be encouraged. 

1 Cicero, treating of the society there is between all men ; their 
being related to each other, and their consequent obligation not to 
injure others for their own advantage, observes, " But what per- 
haps some men will say, if a wise man is perishing for hunger, 
must not he take away victuals from another ; though a perfectly 
useless and insignificant fellow ? No, for life itself is not so dear to 
me, as a fixed resolution of doing no wrong for my private advan- 
tage " Ojjic. /. iii. c. vi. 

The man who is dissatisfied with this decision is a monster. 
There have been some atheistical wretches, who have contended 
that necessity is the first law of nature ; in other words, that it 
supersedes all law. 

Lactantius exclaims, " A wise man will rather die than be un- 
just ; he will not displace the shipwrecked person from his plank to 
preserve his own life ; nor dismount his wounded comrade, to save 



148 The Christian's Manual. 

prosperity, nor depressed by adversity, — who preferred real 
honor to false pleasures, — and, content with the consciousness 
of doing right, despised titles, riches, and the other advantages 
of fortune. Such glorious souls, and such brave examples, it 
will be difficult now to find, Such a one would by many per- 
sons be laughed and pointed at, as an ass among the monkies ; 
and looked upon as a raving, melancholy, silly, hypocritical 
creature, not worthy the name of a man. Thus we honor and 
obey the doctrine of Christ •, so that it is often held to be the 
most ridiculous thing in the world, to be a true christian •, as if 
Christ had come in vain, or that Christianity is quite another 
thing to what it was, or did not alike appertain to all men. 
From such sentiments you cannot depart too far, and Christ 
should be your only standard and measure whereby to estimate 
every thing. 

Who is there but regards noble parentage as one of the chief 
blessings of life ? But be not surprised, when you view the 
wise men of this world, men of the highest rank, knitting their 
brows, and with much importance deciding the different degrees 
of relation *, asserting trifles with the greatest vehemence : or when 
you see others puffed up with the titles of their grandfathers and 
great grandfathers, as if they thought that the rest of the people 
were hardly men. l But smiling at their folly, consider (which is 



himself." There is one general rule, As ye would that men should do 
to you, do ye also to them likewise. Luke vi. 31. Matth. vii. 12. But 
I will not insult the feelings of my readers, by adducing further 
confutation of such a diabolical principle, that a man may trample 
upon the rights of others for his selfish gain ; but conclude with an 
observation of Chrysippus, a celebrated logician, (A. M. 3720.) 
*« He that is running a race should endeavour to get before his op- 
ponent ; but must not trip him up, or push him aside: so in life it 
is lawful that every one should procure what is useful and 
convenient for his comfortable subsistence ; but it is not lawful to 
take it away from others. Cited by Cicero, Offic. I. iii. c. x. 

1 " Hereditary nobility is entirely another's. No other person hath 
lived for our honor, nor ought that to be reputed ours, which 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 149 

the truth)*that the highest honor is to be bom again in Christ,(a) 
to be adopted into his Church, and to become one spirit with God. 
Be it your glory to be the son of God. (b) Christ selected 
those the world called base, weak, and foolish : (c) and God 
without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's 
work, (d) The only nobility is, to despise the vanity it fre- 

existed before us. What can be more senseless than for a man to 
value himself upon this ? Those who have nothing else to recom- 
mend them, are like criminals, who, when they were hard pursued, 
took sanctuary at the altars and sepulchres of the dead, and laid 
hold of the statues of the emperors for refuge. What advantage 
can it be to a blind man that his parents had good eyes ? or to a 
stammerer, that his father had a smooth and voluble tongue ?" 

" Personal and acquired nobility is the reverse of the former, 
merit has made it all his own." 

" These two often centre in one person, and then the nobility is 
perfect." 

" Nobility granted by the favor of a Prince, without any merit 
to give a title to it, is rather a mark of shame than honor. It is a 
poor, pitiful parchment nobility." 

Rollin remarks, « Whatever is external to a man, whatever may 
be common to good and bad, does not make him truly estimable. 
We must judge of men by the heart ; from thence proceed great 
designs, great actions, great virtues. Solid glory, which cannot be 
imitated by pride, nor equalled by pomp, resides in personal qualifica- 
tions, and noble sentiments. To be good, liberal, beneficent and 
generous ; to value riches only for the sake of distributing them ; 
places of honor for the service of our country ; power and credit, 
to be in a condition to suppress vice and reward virtue ; to be really 
good without seeking to appear so; to bear poverty nobly ; to 
suffer injuries and affronts with patience ; to stifle resentment ; and 
to do every good office to an enemy, when we have it in our power 
to be revenged of him ; to prefer the public good to every thing ; 
to sacrifice our wealth, repose, life, and fame, if necessary, to it ; 
these make a man truly great and estimable." Belles Lettres, b. iv. 



(a) John iii. 3. (b) Rom. viii. 14. (c) Matt. iv. 18. lCor. i. 26. 
d) 1 Peter i. 17. Acts x. 34. Rom. ii. 6. 



150 The Christian's Manual. 

quently creates. Hear what the Judge of true worth says in 
the gospel against the Jews, who boasted of their descent from 
Abraham — a personage, not only of illustrious birth, great for- 
tune, and eminent for his victories over kings ; but much more 
for his favor with God, on account of his virtues. Who would 
not value these things as marks of the highest grandeur and dig- 
nity ? But what spake the truth to the Jews ? Ye are of your 
father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye "will do. (a) The 
greatest baseness is, to be a slave to vice, and to have no affinity 
or resemblance to Christ, who acknowledges none for his bre- 
thren, but they that do the will of his Father which is in hea- 
ven, (b) And his is the meanest birth, whose father is the de- 
vil, that is, he that doeth the works of the devil, if you believe 
Christ, who is truth, (c) On the other hand, he is of the no- 
blest blood, that is a son and heir of God, a brother and coheir 
of Christ, (d) What their ensigns of dignity mean, let worldly 
men examine ; but the badges of Christianity are common to 
all, and most conspicuous. ' You see what different notions 
of true nobility you ought to form from the vulgar. 

If a man has hoarded much treasure, who does not reckon him 
a very happy man ? Yet, every one that possesses Christ the 
only good, and has purchased that rich jewel, (e) a virtuous 
mind, though with the loss of every thing else, is sufficiently 
happy. He, who has found the hidden treasures of wisdom, 
has obtained that which is better than thousands of gold and 
silver, (f) What then is to be accounted of the gold, gems 
and estates, which the world so much admires ? They are 
falsely called riches, but are thorns which spring tip, and choke 
the word of God. (g) They are burdens which commonly 
hinder men from following their indigent leader Christ, through 



1 Sir Philip Sidney beautifully observed, " I am no herald to 
inquire other men's pedigrees ; it sufficeth me to know their vir- 
tues." 

(a) John viii. 44. (b) Matt. xii. 50. (c) John xiv. 6. (d) Rom. viii. 
16,17. (e) Mutt. xiii. 44— 46. (/)Ps. cxix. 72. (g) Mat. xiii. 7— 22. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 151 

the narrow path into the kingdom of heaven, (a) Therefore, 
do not fancy yourself better for riches, but consider that you are 
only so much more entangled than others. He who can bravely 
disdain those things, is rich enough ; nor is there any danger 
of his wanting, whom Christ has promised to supply with ne- 
cessaries ; (5) he cannot hunger, who has a relish for the hea- 
venly manna ; (c) nor can he want clothing, who has put on 
Christ. * The greatest injury to a christian is, to withdraw 



1 " Contentment implies a freedom from all solicitude and anxiety 
of mind, in reference to a provision for our needs, and conveniencies 
of life." 

" If we do not depend on Providence, we cannot escape being 
often distracted with care, and perplexed with fear. 

* We should indeed forbear any the least complaint or murmur- 
ing in regard to the dispensations of Providence, or upon dissatis- 
faction of the state allotted to us." Barrow, Serm. I. of Content- 
ment. 

" The fluid and transitory condition of man's life, calls for a 
daily reparation of the decays of nature ; he therefore that looks 
no farther than to minister to the desires of nature, and troubles not 
himself with vain, anxious thoughts, for more than is necessary, 
lives little less than the life of angels ; whilst by a mind content 
with little, he imitates their want of nothing. For this cause we are 
commanded to seek only what is enough to keep the body in its due 
state and temper; and thus to address our prayers to God ; " Give us 
this day our daily bread;" give us bread, not delicacies or riches ; 
not splendid and purple vestures or rich golden ornaments j not 
pearls and jewels ; silver vessels ; large fields and great possessions ; 
not the government of armies ; the conduct of wars; the disposal 
of nations ; not numerous flocks and herds, or multitudes of 
slaves and servants ; not splendor and display in public ; not mar- 
ble pillars, or brazen statues, or silken carpets, or choirs of music, 
or any of those things, by which the soul is diverted, and drawn 
from more noble and divine thoughts ; but only bread, which is 
indeed the true and common staff of life." Gregory Nyssen. (An. 

(a) Matt. xix. 23. 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10. (b) Matt, vi, 24—34. lieb. xiih 5, 
(r) John vi. 49. 



152 The Christian's Manual. 

from his obedience, as the highest benefit he can attain, is by 
growth in virtue. ( a ) 

What is it that wretches call pleasure ? (fi) l Why, that which 
is the reverse. What is it then ? It is the laughter of fools and 
madmen, a luscious poison, and a specious snare, (c) 2 The 
only true joys are those of an innocent mind ; the best feast is 
the study of the holy Scriptures ; the sweetest airs are 
Psalms, 3 penned by the Holy Spirit ; and the most exquisite 
feeling, the perception of truth. Do but remove the film that 
obstructs your eyes, prepare your palate, and then you will 
relish Christ ; whom, when you have well tasted, though all the 
Epicures should collect the most delicious sweets, for your 



380.) De Orat. Domin. Orat. 5. p. 745. torn. 1. vide Cyp. de Orat. 
Dom. p. 192. cited by Cave, Prim. Christianity, p. 2. c. 2. 

1 Bede said, " as for pleasures we must only touch them with 
the tip of our fingers, as we do honey, for fear of surfeiting upon 
them." (died A. D. 735.) 

" The season, the object and the proportion are' all circumstances 
of importance ; a failure in any of them spoils the entertainment ; 
he that buys his satisfaction at the expense of duty and discretion, 
is sure to over-purchase. When virtue is sacrificed to appetite, re- 
pentance must follow, and that is an uneasy passion. All unwar- 
rantable delights destroy those that are greater. The main reason 
why we have restraints imposed, is, because an unbounded liberty 
would undo us. If we examine religion, we shall find few actions 
forbidden, but such as are naturally prejudicial to health, to reason, 
or society. " Collier, Essays on several moral subjects. Part u. p. 191. 

z " The dance of spirits, and the froth of joy." Young. 

3 Lord Clarendon gave this pious advice to his children : " In 
order to procure tranquillity and ease, suffer no day to pass without 
at least reading some of the Psalms ; and carefully observe whe- 
ther there be not in every one of them, somewhat that immediately 
concerns yourselves, and refers to, or reflects upon, your own hopes 
and fears, or some other of your affections and passions." Post- 
hinnous Tracts. 

(a) Matt. v. 43. F.phes. if. 13. (b) Prov. xiv. 12. 13. 

(c) Eccles. li. 2. vii. 2—4. Matt. v. 4. 2 Cor. vi. 10. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 153 

entertainment, they would seem nauseous in comparison* Every- 
thing is not pleasant that appears so, to a mind that is vitiated. 
Should a patient in a fever take wine for water ; men would not 
envy his happiness, but pity his distemper. In like manner, 
you are deceived, if you do not think, that the pious delight 
more in their temperance, than the wicked in their costly sur- 
feiting banquets. The truest joy is, not to be cheated by false 
pleasures, of the love of Christ, and temporal and eternal fe- 
licity. 

Observe how the world misapplies the words love and haired. 
When a man, by base seductive arts, betrays innocence, and em- 
bitters domestic happiness, the vulgar call it love j but it is indeed 
the greatest hatred. Real love consults another's benefit, even 
by self-privation ■, but what does such a one seek but his own 
gratification ? Therefore he loves not her, but himself ; tnough, 
in truth, he loves not even himself.' He, who for so trifling 
an advantage of his own, as he thinks it, ensnares a woman, that 
he may rob her of all that she has valuable, namely, her inte- 
grity, modesty, honesty, virtue, and reputation : does he love or 
hate her ? nothing can exceed his hatred. 

When foolish parents indulge their children's vices, it is said, 
they are very fond of them. But how cruelly do they hate 
them, by endangering their souls, while they do but gratify their 
own inclinations ? What else does our mortal enemy the Devil 
desire, but that we may sin with impunity in this life, that we 
may suffer for it eternally in the next ? A good prince, and a 
kind master, 3 they are called, who wink at, or encourage some 



1 A good man by the observation of his duty, pleases himself; 
benevolence is a refined self-love, perfectly consistent with social, 
indeed, the very basis thereof. Whoever injures another to obtain 
a seeming advantage, imitates a cunning and ferocious beast. 

% Chasten thy son tvhile there is hope, and let not thy soul spare Jbr 
his crying. Prov. xix. 18. xxii. 15. xxix. 17. 

3 I shall digress to the relative duties of masters and servants. 



154* The Christian's Manual. 

faults, that men may commit them with more safety and bold- 
ness. This is the very punishment that God inflicts upon 
those, whom he deems unworthy of his mercy. " But my 
people would not hearken to my voice : and Israel would none 



for a due performance thereof promotes the happiness of every 
family. 

Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal ; 
knowing that ye also have a master in heaven. Col. iv. 1 . 

Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to 
the fiesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto 
Christ ; not with eye service, as men pleasers, but as servants of 
Christ, doing the will of God from the heart ; with good will doing 
service, as to the Lord, and not to men : knowing that whatsoever 
good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, 
whether he be bond or free. And ye masters, do the same things 
unto them, forbearing threatening, knowing that your Master also 
is in heaven ; neither is there respect of persons with him. Ephes. vi. 
5 — 9. Col. iii. 22 — 25. Exhort servants to be obedient unto their 
own masters, and to please them well in all things ; not answering 
again ; not purloining, but showing all good fidelity ; that they may 
adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Titus ii. 9. 10. 
1 Peter ii. 18—20. 

Grotius observes, ¥ we are not to impose upon them labor dis- 
proportioned to their strength and health." — « Do you not remark/ 
says Seneca, * how careful our ancestors were to prevent as well 
all occasion of envy to masters, as of reproach to servants, when 
they called the lord, Paterfamilias, the father of the family ; and 
his servants, Familiares, his familiar friends V Ep. 47. 

Augustin says, ' as to temporal things, the condition of children 
was better than that of servants ; but as to religious duties, masters 
made no distinction, but servants and children were with equal 
affection instructed in the true worship of God.' De Civit. Dei. 
1. 19. c. 16. Grotius, Of War and Peace, b. iii. c. xiv. s. v. 

Kindness to servants, so far from diminishing the authority of 
the master, considerably increases it ; and their uniting in the de- 
votions of the family, whilst it instructs them in religion, cements 
their attachment. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 155 

of me : so I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust : and they 
walked in their own counsels." (a) Whereas, « whom the Lord 
loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he re- 
ceiveth." (b) Thus he, who loves not himself as he ought, 
mortally hates himself ; he that has false pity on himself is un- 
mercifully cruel to himself ; to indulge one's self, is to neglect 
one's self ; to mortify, is to indulge ; and for a man to lay 
down his life in a good cause, is to save it. They take proper 
care of themselves, that deny the desires of the flesh ; they do 
good to a person, that are severe to his vices *, ( c)and they who 
destroy the sinner, save the man. In short, he that defaces the 
work of man, renews the image and work of God. 

Take another instance of vulgar error,' drawn from the re- 
ceived opinions of power and weakness, courage and cowardice. 
Is it not usual to call him a powerful man, that can easily hurt 
any one ? To do mischief is an ability common to vermin, poisoi> 
OU3 creatures, and even the Devil himself, whose delight it is. 
But how can a tyrant hurt his fellow-creature ? by robbing him 
of his money, torturing his body, or taking away his life ? This, 
to a good man, in a righteous cause, would be a blessing in- 
stead of a curse, [d) l Whoever intends to wrong another, first 
does himself the greatest injustice. Do you design to defraud, 
or spoil me of my property ? You have the greater loss of the 
two, because you have lost your charity. ( e ) 2 You cannot 
wound me, without giving yourself a much deeper wound. 
Remember, if you take away my life, you kill your soul to all 
eternity^/) He is denominated a fine, brave and spirited man, 



1 This assurance supported the Martyrs in the most excruciating 
tortures. The iron arm of despotism cannot reach the soul. 

a When Bishop Latimer was told a cutler had cheated him in 
the sale of a knife — " No," observed Latimer : " he cheated not 
me, but his own conscience!" 

(a) Ps. lxxxi. U. 12. (b) Heb. xii. 6—11. Deut. viii. 5. 

(c) Levit. xix. 17. Titus i. 13. (d) Matt. v. 10. 
(e) 1 Cor. vi. 9. 10. ( / ) Matt. xix. 18. 



156 The Christian's Manual. 

that is of a fierce and impatient temper, that is angry at the 
least offence, and returns evil for evil, railing for railing. ( a ) 
But he that obeys Christ, and patiently receives an affront, is 
called a poltroon, not fit to be conversed with. 1 What can be 



i Our blessed Saviour graciously offered himself a sacrifice for 
our redemption, and came to rescue us from Pagan darkness and 
inhumanity ; his arrival was ushered in with the glad tidings of 
" Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good 'will toward 
men" Luke ii. 14. : and shall we have our ears assailed with the 
unchristian yell of duelling ? — The barbarous customs of drinking 
out of the skulls of the enemy, and boasting in the number of hostile 
scalps, are comparative refinements — the passions of savages, un- 
restrained by the mild precepts of the gospel, are excited by the 
remembrance of the perils and horrors of war. 

The duellist fancies himself a Christian, — vain delusion ! let us 
examine his claim to this noble title, for, 

" A Christian is the highest style of man." Young, N. iv. 

" If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that 
thy brother hath ought against thee ; leave there thy gift before 
the altar, and go thy way ; Jirst be reconciled to thy brother, and 
then come and offer thy gift. Love your enemies, bless them that 
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which 
despitefully use you, and persecute you. That ye may be the children 
of your Father which is in heaven." Matt. v. 23. 24. 44. " Thou 
shalt do no murder." Matt. xix. 18. 

With what front can we daily intercede for mercy, if we forgive 
not our brethren ? Matt. vi. 15. ; is not our prayer upon this con- 
dition, " As we forgive them that trespass against us?" Is he 
entitled to the glorious privileges of a Christian, who violates the 
very terms thereof ? no — he may continue a nominal Christian, but 
the name will nothing profit him in the day of judgment. " If 
ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love." John xv. 10. 
" Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, 
hath not God." 2 John 9. Matt. vii. 21. 

Does the supercilious duellist smile ? does he attempt to parry 

(a) 1 Peter iii. 8. 9. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian' s pattern. 157 

more opposite to true greatness of mind, than to be discomposed 
by a paltry word j to think it the part of a man to excel in 



these sacred truths with the puny weapon of " the wisdom of this 
world," which is "foolishness with God?" 1 Cor. iii. 19. 

" The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the 
last day." John xii. 48. 

Has he not courage to be a Christian ? let him recollect the 
awful warning of Christ — " He that taketh not his cross, and Jol- 
loweth after me, is not worthy of me" Matt. x. 38. Does he 
coward-like dread the censure of the world, and prefer " the praise 
of men more than the praise of God" (John xii. 43.) when the 
latter is so much the more valuable ? (Isai. li. 7. 8.) : if he does, 
let him attend to his reward — " What shall a man give in exchange 
Jbr his soul P Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of 
my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall 
the Son of Man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his 
Father with the Holy Angels." Mark viii. 37. 38. Matt. xvi. 26. 

To drive the duellist from the field, I shall summon two cham- 
pions for the cause of Christianity, as my auxiliaries. 

" Let the soldier remember that he is a Christian as well as a 
soldier, and that he was first listed under God Almighty." 

" A man of honor will rather starve than be false to a solemn 
engagement, and where the cause is just he is to be commended for 
his constancy ; and if interest strikes in too, it is not only criminal, 
but weakness to desert it." 

" As for. the point of contempt, let him return it with pity ; it is 
no dishonor to be undervalued by those, who want either under- 
standing or conscience, or both. If bare contempt, without reason, 
is so terribly significant, a fool would be better than a philosopher ; 
a slave than an emperor ; provided the first had but the insolence 
to scorn the latter." 

" Religion will not endure the duelling principle; it. is one so 
full of pride and passion, and revenge, so tempestuous and absurd, 
so absolutely unallied to reason and good nature, that polished 
heathenism would be ashamed of it : in a word, it is as contrary to 
the tendency and temper of Christianity, as light is to darkness, 
as God is to the Devil." 



* 



158 The Christian's Manual. 

doing wrong, and to be incapable of smiling at another's folly ? 
How much braver is it, to be above every inj ury, and with an 
exalted soul, to overcome evil with good P ( a ) I do not call him 
a great man, that rushes dauntless upon the enemy, and is the 
first to scale a wall ; for this may be expected of every common 
soldier. But he that can conquer himself; heartily wish well to 
his enemies ; oblige those that have injured him ; pray for them 
that detest him j alone deserves the name of a magnanimous 
hero, (b)' 

Let us examine what the world calls honor, disgrace and 
modesty. You are commended ; by whom ? If by vain per- 
sons, and for an act of shame, this is so far from being honor- 
able, that it is the greatest ignominy. Are you mocked and 
condemned ? To determine this, we must know for what. If 
for the sake of innocence, or other godly cause, then it is not a 
reproach, but the greatest honor.(c) For though the universe 
were to censure you, nevertheless what Christ commands, must 
be glorious. And if all mankind should ring your praises, 
yet that must be shameful, which God has forbidden. 

" Fear not to part with the character of a gentleman. As long as 
the laws are on our side, the heraldry is all safe; and if it were other- 
wise, let us remember we are Christians. If there happens a com- 
petition between the two pretensions, let us drop the gentleman, 
and keep the Christian, for he is a person of the best quality." 
Jerem. Collier, Essays on Moral Subjects, Part I. p. 141 — 143. 

" God is the fountain of honor, God's word the charter of honor, 
and godly men the best judges of it ; nor is it any stain of coward- 
liness for one to fear hell and damnation." Fuller, " Holy State" — 
« The Good Soldier," c.lO.p. 11?; 

1 Justin Martyr (An. 155.) tells the Jews, " the Christians pray 
for you, and all others that are unjustly our enemies ; we pray for 
you, that Christ will have mercy upon you : for he has taught us 
to pray for our enemies, to love them, and be merciful to them." 
Dial, cum Trypho. p. 254. 243. 333. 

(a) Rom. xii. 21. (6) Luke vi. 27. 28. 

(c) Matt. v. 10. 12. Ileb. xii. 3. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian' s pattern* 259 

It is called prudence, 1 to endeavour to get money as fast as 
you can •, to put it out safely, and provide for the future. You 
hear people every where seriously talking of one that has grown 
rich, thus- — Oh, he is a remarkable fortunate, clever, careful, 
industrious man ! This is the cant of the world, that is a liar, 
and the father of it. («•) But what says the word of truth ? 
Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, (b) 
This man had stored his barns with full crops, had plenty of 
money, and thought of nothing but enjoying the fruits oi his 



1 " True prudence consists in knowing how to live well, and how 
to die so ; it serves to direct and conduct all the other virtues ; like 
a faithful guide, she goes before to light them. One may even say 
that she comprehends them all, for no evil is done but for want of 
prudence ; and the greatest prudence is to be religious, just, steady 
and temperate." Du Moulin, on Peace of Soul, lib. 2. c. 18. p. 254. 

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Matt. xix. 19. 

" All craft should utterly be banished, and that knavish 
sort of cunning which would indeed be esteemed prudence, but 
is the farthest from it of any thing in the world : for prudence 
consists in making a right distinction between good and evil ; but 
this kind of cunning gives the preference to evil ; if, at least, it be 
true, as most certainly it is, that every thing is evil, which is con- 
trary to honesty. 

" It is agreeable to the dictates and rules of nature, that no one 
should endeavour to make his own advantage from the ignorance 
of another ; and indeed there is no greater mischief in the world 
than this wisdom, falsely so called, joined with baseness and 
knavery. From this innumerable cases have arisen, wherein pro- 
fit is set up in opposition to honesty." Cicero Offic. I. iii. c. xvii. 

The owner of a book, unacquainted with its value, offered it to 
Hermias of Alexandria, for less, who disdaining to profit by his 
ignorance, paid him the real value ! Bayle, Diet. tit. Hermias. 

Cicero affirms, " it is a villainous error of some wicked men, 
when any thing appears profitable, to obtain it, without considering 
its relation to honesty." Qffic. 1. iii. c. viii. 

(«) John viii. 44. (6) Luke xii. 15. 21. 



160 The Christian's Manual. 

labors ; and though he did not, like many, only watch his trea- 
sure, without tasting of it, yet God calls this worldly wise man 
a fool. For what can be more absurd, than like JEsop's dog, to 
catch at the shadow, and lose the substance ? The fable, indeed, 
we laugh at, though exemplified every.day in the lives and 
manners of men ; but this is a circumstance that should rather 
excite our tears than our laughter. How unwise is it, to be so 
very careful in providing for the necessities of this fleeting, pre- 
carious life, which God has promised to supply \ and to be 
totally negligent of our future state, which must be for ever mi- 
serable, if we do not prepare for it. ( a ) 

To proceed to one mistake more. — The man that vigilantly 
listens to every idle report, and knows what is doing all the 
world over, is said to have much knowledge and experience : 
if he can talk of losses by sea and land, of what is intended by 
the King of Great Britain, of the intrigues of the court of 
France, of news from Rome, or the manner of living in Russia, 
and of the politics of the European Princes j in short, he that 
has something to say upon all occasions, is called wise. Now 
what can be more thoughtless, than for any one to pry into 
what is doing abroad, but never to think of what passes in his 
own breast, which is the only thing that belongs to him ? Do 
not tell me of wars and tumults, but reflect whether you are not 
inwardly torn by anger, ambition, lust, and envy ; — think how 
far you have reduced them ; — -what force you are provided 
with — what hopes of victory ; — how long before the contest 
will be decided. If in these affairs you shew great skilly ad- 
dress, and circumspection, I will denominate you a prudent 
man, and you may retort upon the world its own maxim \ 
" That he is a fool that is not wise unto himself." * 



1 " Science and wisdom are things very different ; wisdom is 
worth more than all the science and art in the world, as heaven 
exceeds the price of the earth, gold of iron." 

(a) Ps. xlix. 6. 20. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern* 161 

If you scrutinize in this manner, all the joys and cares, hopes 
and fears, desires and sentiments of mankind, you will find them 
alike perplexed with error, so that they call evil good, and good 
evil, {a) Such is the far greater part of mankind, whom 
therefore you ought to disregard ; but pity, and wish they may 
become better. And be not conformed to this 'world : but be ye 
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove 
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. ( b ) 
You are a child of light, (c) and of eternal life: then let the 
dead bury their dead ;{d) and the blind, with their blind 
leaders, both fall into the ditch. ( e ) Do not be led away from 
Christ. O Christian, stamp the principles of your religion (f) 
deep on your heart, dare boldly to assert them, and have the 
fullest assurance in your beloved Jesus Christ. ( g ) 



Sentiments worthy of a Christian. 

Be mindful of these precepts of Christianity ; namely, that a 
Christian is not born to live only for himself ',(h) 1 that he 
ought to give thanks always for all things unto God and the 
Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ ; (i) and to bestow 
his wealth on his indigent brethren : for Christian charity ad- 



Cumberland says, " no virtue can adorn his mind, who has 
divested himself of all benevolent affections towards mankind." 
Of the Lavo of Nature, c. 5. s. xv. 

This work deserved the Bishoprick of Peterborough which was 
given to him unsolicited by King William. Cumberland was emi- 
nently pious and learned ; his charity was most exalted ; and he was 
hospitable without profuseness. When a friend observed that his 
great literary labors would destroy his health, he replied, " it is 
better to wear out than to rust out." 

(a) Isai. v. 20. (b) Rom. xii. 2. (c) Ephes. v. 8. John viii. 12. 

(d) Luke ix. 60. (e) Matt.xv. 14. C/) Mark viii. 38. (g) John xiv. 23. 
(h) Matt. xx. 28. Gal. vi. 2. Phil. ii. 4. Heb.xiii. 26. 1 Peter iii. 8. 
(i) Ephes. v. 20. 

Ch. Ma. L 



162 The Christian's Manual. 

mits no selfish property. Good men he will love for themselves, 
and the bad for Christ ; who so loved us, his enemies, as to sa- 
crifice himself for us ; he will embrace others, in order to make 
them good. ( a ) He will hate no man, but as a physician does 
his patient, being an enemy only to vice. ' The stronger the 
disease is, the greater pains charity will take. ( b ) He will en- 
deavour to destroy the sinner, but save the man. He will pray 
for, wish well, and do good to all. He will rejoice at others' 
success, and grieve at their disappointments, as if they were his 
own. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that 
Weep, (c) A Christian can never think, what have I to do with 
such a one ? I know not whether he is good or bad j besides, 
he is a perfect stranger to me ; ( d ) and I was never obliged to 
him ; he once was unkind to me, but never did me any service. 
Only remember what Christ did for you, and how little you 
deserved -, and then repay his love, as he requires, by doing 
good to your neighbour. ( e ) Observe what distress he is in, 
and how much you are able to do for him. (f) Consider that 
you are brethren in Christ, that he is a member of the same 
body, a partaker of the common faith, and that he is redeemed 
by the same blood. How can that man be a stranger, with 
whom you are connected by so many ties ? Amongst the com- 
mon remarks of the Gentiles, to persuade men into love, these 
were urged, such a one is your fellow-citizen, relation, or he is 
an acquaintance, your father's friend, a benefactor, grateful, 
well-born, or rich. z In Christ these things are nothing, for 



1 " Thou shalt neither hate a man for his vice, nor love the vice 
for the man's sake." Prosper died A. D. 466. 

a So highly did the ancients estimate philanthropy, that they 
had this proverb, " one man is a kind of God to another." 

Cicero says, " and if nature enjoins us, that every man should 
desire and procure the advantage of another, whosoever he be, for no 

(a) 1 Thess. ii. 7. 3. (b) James v. 19. 20. 

(c) Rom. xii. 15. (d) Gal. iii. 23. 

(e) Luke x. 27—37. (/) Gal. vi - 10 - 



Rule VI. Christ the Christians pattern. 163 

there is " X)ne God and Father of all, who is above all, and 
through all, and in you all.( a) Upon all occasions only reflect 
thus -, he is my brother in the Lord.( b ) Does not whatever is 
imparted to any member, circulate through the body to the 
*head ? Now we are members one of another, and it is the 
members joined together that constitute the body -, Jesus Christ 
is the head of the body, [c] and the head of Christ is God : 
whatsoever then is done to any one member of the body, whe- 
ther it be good or ill, is done unto you, unto each member, unto 
Christ, and unto God. Such expressions as this are wrong, Like 
to like •, for of what use are words of distinction, where there 
ought to be the strictest union ? Every day's experience con- 
firms, that a courtier is averse to a citizen, a countryman to a 
townsman, a magistrate {o a private person, a rich to a poor 
man, a nobleman to one of humble parentage, those in power to 
them that are out, an Italian to a German, a Frenchman to an 
Englishman, a South Briton to a North Briton, a logician to a 
grammarian, a scholar to an illiterate man, an orator to a bad 
speaker, a clergyman to a layman, a priest to a monk, one order 
of monks to another ; and, even in trifles, the unlike hate each 
other. What becomes of that charity, which extends even to 
enemies *, * when the change of climate, a name, or a different 



other reason than because he is a man ; it necessarily follows that 
all men are joined by the self-same nature in one common interest." 

And discoursing farther of men, who refuse good offices to 
strangers, he says, " these men destroy that universal society of all 
mankind, which if once taken away, kindness, liberality, justice, 
and humanity must utterly perish. " Qffic. I. iii.c. vi. 

Let no disagreement in religious or political opinions ever obstruct 
our charity. Vide Luke x. 33. Say, " I am a man, and think 
every thing humane belongs to me." 

1 When the Romans had taken seven thousand Persian captives, 
and would neither release them without a ransom, or maintain them ; 
and many were starved ; Acacius, Bishop of Amida, with the con- 

(«) Ephe^. iv. 6. Col. iii. 11—14. b) Mark iii. 31—35. 

(c) Eplics. iv. 15. 16. 



164 The Christian's Manual. 

rank, order, or pursuit, shall make one man hostile to another, 
or indifferent to good offices ? Let us lay aside these inhuman 
distinctions ; for " By one spirit are we all baptized into one body, 
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ; and 
have been all made to drink into one spirit. For the body is not I 
one member -, but many ,-" {a) neither envying the more honorable 
members, (b) nor neglecting the inferior -, and let us be sensible, 
that we are the better for the good we do our neighbour ; and when 
we injure our brother we do ourselves the greatest harm. Let no 
man consult merely his seeming private advantage, but let each 
contribute, in proportion as God has blessed him, to the common 
goodj(c) that so every thing may flow back to the fountain- 
head, And that all speaking the truth in love, may grow up into 
him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. From whom 
the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which 
every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the 
measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, unto the 
edifying of itself in love. Ephes. iv. 15, 16. And bear one 
another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ, (d) 

Do you think those people belong to this body, who talk after 
this manner ? my estate came to me by inheritance, and I am a 
legal, not a fraudulent possessor ; why then should I not make 
use of my own, or even abuse it, if I please ? why should I give to 
them, that I owe nothing to ? If I choose to spend and throw 
it away, it is my own, and what has any one else to do with it ? ■ 

sent of the Clergy, sold all the gold and silver plate of the Church, 
to ransom and give them money to return home. Socrates Hist. 
Eccles. lib. vii. cap. xxi. (An* 440.) 

1 It is our imperative duty to retrench superfluous expenses, that 
we may the more relieve the necessities, and administer to the com- 
forts of suffering humanity. Can the statelypride of entering the;lofty 
hall, being decked in all the tinsel and foppery of dress, revelling in 
the costly parlour, and reposing under the gorgeous tapestry, be put 
in competition with the calm delight of bending under the humble 

(a) 1 Cor. xii. 13, 14. (b) James iii. 15, 16. 

(c) 2 Cor. viii. 12. ix. 6, 7. Phil. ii. 4, 5. Heb. xiii. 10. 

(d) Gal. vi. 2. 1 Cor. xii. 25—28. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern* 165 

But consider, I beseech you, that while you are surfeiting, one 
of your fellow-members is perishing for want. ' While your 

'portal, protecting the shivering body from the- piercing blast-,, and 
adding to the scanty morsel of the poor ? How pleasing to be able 
to say with Job, "■ The stranger did not lodge in the street, but I 
opened my doors to the traveller" xxxi. 32. " The blessing of him 
that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's 
heart to sing for joy." xxix. 1$. 

Erasmus in the Colloquy " The Religious Treat," remarks, 
« To those who ask, indeed who importune, or rather extort, great 
sums from others, to furnish voluptuous entertainments, or which 
is worse, to feed luxury and dissipation, it is chanty to deny : it is 
a species of robbery to confer that which we owe to the necessities 
of our neighbours, upon those that will abuse it." 

This just observation claims a serious consideration — how many 
support the proud establishments or the riotous excesses of their 
children, relations or friends, and neglect to relieve the necessities 
of their fellow creatures ! They are actuated more by the loud 
plaudits of men, than the still approbation of conscience. We are 
stewards of our wealth, and at the last solemn audit must account 
for the disposal : then, it will be in vain to produce vouchers for 
sums applied to nourish pomp and extravagance — they will, be re- 
jected by our Lord; who commanded, " When thou makest a 
dinner or a supper ; call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither 
thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, 
and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call 
the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed ; 
for they cannot recompense thee ; for thou shalt be recompensed at the 
resurrection of the just" Luke xiv. 12 — 14. Matt. xxv. 40 46.. 

Some inconsiderately open their purse to the first petitioner ; Jet 
them reflect that if they give to an undeserving person, they misap- 
propriate that which would have administered relief to a proper 
object. 

1 « It is best for a rich man to make the bellies of the poor his 
barn, to succour the fatherless and the needy, and thereby to lay 
up treasure in heaven, that he may be received into an everlasting 
habitation." 

u Let not thy care be to have thy hands full, whilst the poo 
are empty." Peter Chrysologus t A. D. 440. 



166 The Christian's Manual. 

full wardrobe is devoured with moths and worms ; your naked 
brother stands shivering with cold : (a) You are losing at the 
gaming table ; * while your brother is struggling with misery, 
or languishing upon a bed of sickness. You say, What is this 
to me -, I trouble myself with nobody's business but my own ? 
And can you with such a disposition think yourself a christian; 
when you are not worthy to be called a man ? % In a numerous 

1 The love of play originates in covetousness, and no covetous 
man shall inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Cor. vi. 10. St. Paul calls 
covetousness idolatry. Col. iii. 5. And does not the gamester sa- 
crifice every public and private duty ? Justinian made a law against 
gaming either in public or private houses. Lib. iii. Cod. Justin, 
tit. i<3. Cyprian said, " a common gamester or dice-player may 
call himself a christian, but indeed he is not." Lib. de Aleatoribus, 
The Emperor Aurelius Alexander decreed, that " a man discover- 
ed playing with dice should be apprehended as mad or an idiot." 

*« He that means to make his games lawful, must not play for 
money, but for refreshment. 

" If without the money, he cannot mind his game ; then the 
game is no divertisement, no recreation, but the money is all the 
sport ; and therefore covetousness is all the design. 

" Cards and dice, if there be no money at stake, will make as 
good sport, and please the mind as well as any of the sports of 
boys, and are as innocent as push-pin. Jeremy Taylor. Of the 
efficient causes of all Human Actions. B. iv. c.\. p. 779. 

2 The early Christians were so eminent for brotherly love, that 
the heathens exclaimed, e f See how these Christians love one ano- 
ther." Tertul. Apol. c. 39. .p. 47. (An. 198). 

Lactantius (An. 300) thus beautifully discourses upon mercy and 
charity. " Since human nature is weaker than that of other crea- 
tures, who come into the world armed with offensive and defensive 
powers ; our wise Creator has given us a tender and merciful dispo- 
sition, that we may place the safeguard of our lives in mutual assist- 
ances ; for being all created by one God, and sprung from one 
common parent, we should think ourselves related, and obliged to 
love all mankind; and, that our innocency'may be perfect, not only 
not to do an injury to another, but not to revenge one, when done 

(a) Luke iii. 11. Prov. xxi. 13. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 167 

assembly when you hear another's character defamed, you are 
content to make no reply, or are pleased with the detractor. I 
would have answered him, you observe, if what he said, had 
concerned me ; but I had no connexion with the person so injur- 
ed. If you have no union with this particular member, you 
have none with the body itself; and if none with the body, then 
you have no part in Christ the head of the body. 

I wonder how the morals of men professing Christianity, come 
to be influenced by such expressions as these ; I hurt him, it is 
true, but I was provoked to it : I had rather do, than suffer 

to ourselves ; for which reason also, we are commanded to pray 
for our very enemies ; we ought therefore to be kind and sociable, 
that we may assist each other ; for being ourselves liable to misery, 
we may the more comfortably hope for that help in case we need it, 
which we have given unto others ; and what can more effectually 
induce us to relieve the indigent, than to put ourselves in their 
stead, who beg help of us : if any be hungry let us feed him ; is he 
naked let us clothe him ; is he wronged by a powerful oppressor, 
let us rescue and relieve him. Let our doors be open to strangers, 
and such as have not where to lay their head.. Let not our assist, 
ance be wanting to widows and orphans ; and which is a great in- 
stance of chanty, let us redeem the captives ; visit and assist the 
sick, who are able to take no care of themselves ; and for strangers 
and the poor, in case they die, let us not suffer them to want the 
conveniency of a grave. These are the offices and works of mercy, 
which, whoever does, offers up a true and grateful sacrifice to God ; 
who is not pleased with the blood of beasts, but the charity of men ; 
whom therefore he treats upon their own terms ; has mercy on them 
whom he sees merciful, and is inexorable to those who shut up 
their bowels against them that ask. In order to our thus pleasing 
God, let us make light of money, and transmit it into the heavenly 
treasures, " where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where 
thieves do not break through nor steal," (Matt. vi. 1 9, 20.) nor tyrants 
are able to take it from us; but where it shall be kept to our eternal 
advantage, under the custody of God himself." Epitom. c. 7. 
p. 746. 

We should rescue the poor from oppression, either by exercising 
our influence, or applying to the protecting power of the magistratev 



168 The Christian's Manual. 

wrong. Hear St. Paul, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, 
but rather give place unto wrath : for it is written, vengeance is 
mine $ I will repay, saith the Lord, Therefore, if thine enemy 
hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink : for in so doing, 
thou shall heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of 
evil, but overcome evil with good, [a] You say, but what if my 
forbearance should add to another's boldness, and by tamely 
enduring one affront, I bring on another ? I reply-, rather suffer 
harm yourself, than, do it to another, (b) If in your power, re- 
form your enemy, either by kindness, or a gentle behaviour •, (c) 
but if you fail, is it not better that one of you perish, than both ? 
and more for your advantage to grow rich in patience, than by 
retaliating evil for evil, to become alike vicious. Therefore, 
adopt for a rule of Christianity, to emulate all men in meekness, 
goodness, and liberality; but to avoid the example of persons 
infected with hatred, strife, mischief, pride and scandal. He 
is such a wretch, you say, that he does not deserve to be for- 
given, much less rewarded. Yet to pardon him is discharging 
your duty to Christ, (d) Others say, I desire to do no body any 
harm, nor will I allow them to do me any : whereas we should 
forgive others, and take such care of our conduct, as to grant 
them no opportunity to pardon us. Be equally diligent to avoid 
giving offence {e) and to remit it. If you are of noble birth, 
the humility that Christ requires, will not disgrace but exalt 
your condition. If you are a man of learning, so much the 
more patiently ought you to endure the ignorance of others, and 
instruct them, (f) Because the greater your talent, the stricter 
account will be required of you. (g) Are you rich ? remember 
that you are not the lord, but steward of your estate, (h) and 
should therefore be careful how you dispose of the public money. 
One says, I have no ecclesiastical benefice ; I am no Divine ; 
agreed ; but are you therefore no Christian' ? consider well 
who it is you belong to, though you are no ecclesiastic. Is 

(&) Roro.xii. 19 — 21. Matt. v. 44. (b) 1 Peter iii. 17. 
(c) Matt, xviii. 15—17. Prov. xv. 1. (d) 1 Peter ii. 21—24. 
(e) 1 Peter ill. iO, 11. (/) Col. iii. 16. 

Q) Matt. xxv. 14—40. Luke xii. 48. (/*) Luke vi. 33. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 169 

Christ held in such contempt by mankind, that tney think it a 
great matter to have no commerce with him ; and that men are 
the more slighted the stricter their union is with him ? Do not 
some of the angry laity every day make use of the word Divine 
as a term of reproach ? * They who conform to this world, and 
have nothing more scandalous to object to others, than the 
name of Divine, make it appear very plainly, what their opinions 
are of Christ, and what sort of men they are. 

Divines and Magistrates have the same Lord, whose servants 
they are ; and to whom they are alike accountable. 2 If you obtain 

1 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves : 
Jbr they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that 

they may do it with joy and not with grief: Jbr that is unprofitable 
for you. Pray Jbr us. Heb. xiii. 17, 13. And esteem them very 

highly in lovejor their work's sake. 1 Thes. v. 13. Who Jeedeth a 
jlock, andeateth not of the milk of the Jock ? If we have sown unto you 

spiritual things, is it a great thing, if we shall reap your carnal things ? 

1 Cor. ix. 7, 1 1. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto 
him that teacheth in all good' things. Gal. vi. 6. 

2 A Bishop must be blameless as the steward of God; not self- 
willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, 7io striker, not given to 

filthy lucre : but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, 
just, holy, temperate. Titus i. 7, 8. Likewise must the Deacons be 
grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of 
filthy lucre : holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 
And let these also first be proved ; then let them use the office of a 
Deacon, being Jound blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, 
not slanderous, sober, Jaithful in all things. 1 Tim. iii. 8 — 1 1. 

When St. Paul says, Deacons must first be proved, he does not 
design them to be examined by the Bishop's Chaplain, in Greek or 
Latin, but as to their conduct ; and if Jound blameless., they are to 
be ordained. One notorious crime is of more importance than fifty 
grammatical faults. The usual certificate is obtained with too much 
facility, and received with too little inquiry. Nothing is more inju- 
rious to the cause of religion, than the immorality of its ministers. 
Civing no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed. 

2 Cor. vi. 3. As we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the 
Gospel, even so we speak ; not as pleasing men, but God, which 
trieth our hearts. For neither at any time used wejlattering words, 



170 The Christian's Manual. 

as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness ; God is witness ; nor of 
men sought we glory. We were gentle among you, even as a nurse 
cherisheth her children. 1 Thes. ii. 4—7. 2 Cor. iv. 1, 2. Take 
heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine ; continue in them : for in 
doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. 1 
Tim. iv. 16. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all 
authority. Let no man despise thee. Titus ii. 15. Acts vi. 4. 
Feed the flock of Christ which is among you, taking the oversight 
theretyf, not by constraint, but willingly ; not for filthy lucre, but of 
a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being 
ensamples to the Jlock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, 
ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. 1 Peter v. 
2 — 4. Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the 
Lord, that thou fulfil it. Col. iv. 17. 2 Tim. iv. 5. 

" Now as all of us should labor in preserving the rule of disci- 
pline and good manners inviolate ; so a more especial care should 
herein be taken by the Prelates and Deacons of the Church, who 
should set others an example and pattern of all holy conversation. 
For how will it be possible for them to prescribe rules of purity for 
others, who themselves are tainted, and whose practice gives the 
first sample of corruption." Cyprian Epist. iv. s. 3. A. D. 247. 

Burnet, in his " Pastoral Care," observes, " When St. Paul 
was leaving his last charge with the Bishops that met him at Ephe- 
sus, he makes use of the metaphor of shepherd, in those often cited 
words, " Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the Jlock, 
over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the 
church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." Acts 
xx. 28. The words are solemn, and the consideration enforcing 
them is a mighty one : they import the obligations of the clergy, 
both to an exactness in their own deportment, and to earnest and 
constant labors in imitation of the Apostle ; who during the three 
years of his stay among them, had been " serving the Lord with all 
humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations which befel 
him by the lying in wait of the Jews ; and had kept back nothing 
that was profitable unto them, but had showed and taught them pub- 
licly and from house to house." Acts xx. 19, 20. p. 35. 

« Study to shew thyself approved unto God," (not to seek the vain ap- 
plauses of men, but to prefer to all other things the witness of a good 
conscience ; and that in simplicity and godly sincerity, ye may walk 
and labor as in the sight of God). " A workman that needeth not to 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern, 171 

be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" 2 Tim. 11, 15. p. 4L 
" One of the chief parts of the pastoral care, is the visiting the 
sick ; not to be done barely when one is sent for. He is to go as 
soon as he hears that any of the flock are ill. He is not to satisfy 
himself with going over the office, or giving them the sacrament 
when desired. He ought to inform himself of their course of life, 
and of the temper of their mind, that so he may apply himself to 
them accordingly. If they are insensible, he ought to awaken 
them with the terrors of God — the judgment, and the wrath to 
come. He must endeavor to make them sensible of their sins, 
particularly of that which runs through most men's lives, their for- 
getting and neglecting Gdd and his service ; and their setting their 
hearts so inordinately upon the world. He must set them on to 
examine their dealings, and make them seriously to consider that 
they can expect no mercy from God, unless they restore whatsoever 
they may have got unjustly from any other, by any manner of way ; 
even though their title were confirmed by law. He is to lay any 
other sins to their charge that he has reason to suspect them guilty 
of, and must press them to all such acts of repentance as they are 
then capable of. " p. 194«. 

" But one of the chief cares of a minister about the sick, ought 
to be, to exact of them solemn vows, and promises of a renovation 
of life, in case God shall raise them up again; and these ought to 
be demanded, not only in general words, but if they have been 
guilty of any scandalous disorders, or any other ill practices, there 
ought to be special promises made with relation to those. And 
upon the recovery of such persons, their ministers ought to put 
them in mind of their engagements, and use all the due freedom of 
admonitions and reproof, upon their breaking loose from them. 
In such a case, they ought to leave a terrible denunciation of the 
judgments of God upon them, and so at least they acquit them- 
selves." p. 197. 

Speaking of the conduct to be observed towards Dissenters, he 
justly remarks, " If we were stricter in our lives, more serious and 
constant in our labors ; and studied more effectually to reform those 
of our communion, than to rail at theirs ; if we took occasion to 
let them see that we love them, that we wish them no harm but 
good, then we might hope by the blessing of God, to lay the obli- 
gations to love and peace, to unity and concord before them, 



172 The Christian's Manual. 

ecclesiastical (a) or civil preferment, not with adesign to discharge 

with such advantages, that some of them might open their eyes* 
and see at last upon how slight grounds they have now so long 
kept up such a wrangling, and made such a rent in the church, that 
both the power of religion in general, and the strength of the Pro- 
testant religion, have suffered extremely by them." p. 204. 

And in his Preface to the History of the Reformation, abridged, 
treating the same subject, he says, " But if it is an high and un- 
accountable folly for any to forsake our communion and go over to 
those of Rome ; it is at the same time an inexcusable weakness in 
others, who full of zeal against popery, and yet upon some incon- 
siderable objections, do depart from the unity of the body, and form 
separate assemblies and communions ; though they cannot object 
any thing material either to our doctrine or worship. But the most 
astonishing part of the wonder is, that in such differences there should 
be so little mutual forbearance or gentleness to be found : and that 
they should raise such heats, as if the substance of religion were 
concerned in them. We of the Church communion have trusted 
too much to the supports we receive from the law ; we have done 
our duties too slightly, and have minded the care of souls too lit- 
tle !!!" 

Home relates, " Happy the man who may be able with all hu- 
mility to say at the last hour, the time which thou hast given me 
hath been passed in thy service ; I have not suffered myself through 
indolence or dissipation, to live in ignorance of thy truth, or to 
withhold it from others; I have labored diligently and faithfully 
to find it, and when found, to publish and defend it ; it is not 
my fault if the people perish for lack of knowledge. I have done 
my best, I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, and 
endeavoured that others should do the same." In Discourse 73, 
p. 392. 

" The instruction of words is not so powerful as the persuasion 
of works." Peter Lombard, (A. D. 1196.) 

Two Monks were competitors in the purchase of an Abbot's 
place from William Rufus ; a third made no offer. The King 
inquired what he would give : nothing, he replied, for it is against 
my conscience : then, said William, you best deserve it j and be- 
stowed it upon him. 

(a) 1 Peter, v. 2. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 178 

the duties of the situation, but only to fill your empty coffers, 
this isJiighly criminal. 1 

He who acts illegally, arbitrarily and violently, in the name 
of his Prince, affronts majesty. Let not the honor of magistracy 
make you more haughty, but the trouble it brings more vigilant. 

Unless as a magistrate you are resolved to defend truth and 
justice, riot only with the loss of your fortune, but of your life, 
Christ will not approve of your administration. % JL-. — 

Are you a king ? let not despicable flatterers («) deceive you y , £* 
with such insinuations as these — -that you are a sovereign, and 
therefore above the laws — that whatever you do, is right , and 

1 As to the particular duties of officers, whether they affect the 
whole body of the nation or part thereof, there is this one general 
precept to be observed by all ; that no person accept or take upon 
him any employment, for which he knows himself by his disabilities 
(whether want of strength, skill, courage, &c.) to be undeserving 
and incapable." Puffendorf. Law of Nature, lib. ii. c. xviii. s. vi. 

* " Those who design to be partakers in the government, should 
be sure to remember these two precepts of Plato ; First, to make 
the safety and interest of their citizens, the great aim and design of 
all their thoughts and endeavours, without ever considering their 
own personal advantage. And secondly, so to take care of the 
whole collective body of the republic, as not to serve the interest of 
any one party to the prejudice or neglect of all the rest." Cicero 
Offic. lib. i. c. 25. 

" A magistrate should consider that he represents the whole city, 
ajid accordingly is bound to maintain the credit and dignity of it : 
to preserve the laws, and see that all people have their rights ; re- 
membering these things are committed to his trust, which he is 
bound to render up faithfully and honestly." lb. c. xxxiv. 

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write 
grievousness, which they have prescribed: to turn aside the needy 
from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my 
people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the 
fatherless! Isai. x. 1, 2. How long will ye judge unjustly, and ac- 
cept the persons of the wicked. Defend the poor and fatherless ; do 
justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy ; rid 
them out of the hand of the wicked. Ps. lxxxii. 2 — 4<. 

(a) Prov. xxv. 5. xxix. 12. 



1?4? The Christian's Manual. 

you may do what you will 1 — that you have nothing to do with 
the common cant of divines. But consider there is one Lord 
over all, even Jesus Christ, whose image you ought to bear. * 
And as you must render to him a stricter account than others; 
so ought you to be more exact in the observance of his laws. 
And do not think that your will is the standard of right; but ra- 
ther let right be the measure of your will. Do not imagine, that 
what would be a crime in another man, can be virtue in you ; [a) 
on the contrary, do not allow yourself things that might be par- 
donable in others. Let not authority, dignity, applause and 
honor, be the effects of superior wealth ; but the reward of 
merit. 3 Let not the vulgar learn from you to admire such 
things, whereby they are seduced into those crimes which are 
daily punished by you. For take away the love of money, and 
there will be no thieves and robbers. When you would seem 
great in the eyes of your subjects, do not display your riches to 
dazzle the fools ; when you would shew them your happiness, 
set not your luxury and riots before them. Be the first to teach 
them, to despise these things by your example ; to admire virtue, 
to esteem frugality, to love temperance, 4 and to honor modesty. 

i Charles V. having signed an unjust grant, cancelled it, observ- 
ing, " I had much rather renounce my name, than wound my 
conscience 1" 

a He that ruleth over men, must be just ; ruling in the fear of 
God. 2 Sam. xxiii. 3. 

3 William the Conqueror in his last sickness, exclaimed, " in the 
election of Pastors, I ever searched out the merit of life, and his 
learning of wisdom, and so near as I could, committed the govern- 
ment of the church to the most worthy." Stoxv. Annals, p. 124*. 

Sallust remarks of the Romans, " As soon as riches were honored, 
and they alone paved the way to command, to power and to glory, 
virtue ceased to be esteemed; poverty was considered disgraceful ; 
purity of manners as the effect of melancholy and misanthropy ; 
and the fruits of these riches were luxury, avarice and pride.' 7 Sal- 
lust. Bell. Catilin. c. 12. 

4 It is notjor kings to drink nine ; nor for princes strong drink .- 
lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any 
of the afflicted. Prov. xxxi. 4, 5. 

(o) 1 Peter i. 17. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 175 

Do not be guilty of those vices, which by your authority the 
people suffer for. 1 You may then with a good grace punish 
wickedness, when that which is the cause of it, riches and sinful 
enjoyments, are openly scorned by you. Despise not the lowest 
of the people, 2 remembering that one ransom redeemed you. (a) 
The grandeur of a throne, 3 the haughtiness of power, and the 
pomp of guards, will not so effectually rescue you from contempt, 
as a virtuous life, a decency of behaviour, and pureness of man- 
ners. A prince, though in the discharge of his duty, he holds 
the chief place, ought to consider that in charity, there is no 
distinction of rank. True sovereignty consists in greatness of 
mind and beneficence. 4 Do not convert to your own use, what 
of right belongs to the public ; or squander the revenues de- 
rived from the labors of your subjects ; but on the contrary, 
devote yourself, and all that belongs to you, to the public ser- 

1 It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness : for the 
throne is established by righteousness, Prov. xvi. 12. 

z TJbe king that faithfully judgeth the poor, his throne shall be 
established for ever. Prov. xxix. 14. 

3 The courtiers and servants of William the Conqueror, upon 
his death, immediately seized his effects and fled, regardless of his 
obsequies. 

The historian observes, « O worldly pomp ! how contemptible art 
thou, because thou art ever vain and slippery, rightly thou mayest 
be compared to a bubble in the water, that in a moment so proudly 
setteth up thyself, and suddenly thou shalt be brought into nothing. 
« Behold the mighty Prince, upon whom above 100,000 soldiers 
willingly waited, and whom many courtiers with trembling feared, 
now is in his own house, by his own servants shamefully spoiled, and 

from the prime unto the third hour, left upon the bare ground." 

Stow. Annals, p. 126. 

4 When Placilla the Empress was censured by the courtiers for 
her condescension in visiting the hospitals, curing the lame and 
sick with her own hands, preparing and giving them provisions, she 
answered, « that to distribute gold became the Emperor ; but for 
her part, she thought herself obliged to do this for God, who had 
advanced her to that honor, and dignity." Theodoret. Hist. Eccles. 
lib. 5. c. 18. p. 161. (A. D. 440.) 

(«) 1 Tim. ii. 6. 



1?6 The Christian's Manual. 

vice. The people owe much to you •, x you also owe much to 

1 Grotius in his treatise " of war and peace," observes, " They, 
that have enlisted themselves into any society, or otherwise subjected 
themselves to any one man or society of men, have also either ex- 
pressly promised, or from the very nature of the thing itself ought 
so to be understood, as if they had tacitly promised, to observe and 
perform whatsoever the major part of that society, or they unto 
whom the power was transferred, constitute or ordain for the gene- 
ral good." Introd. p. vii. 

" He that for his present profit violates the law of his country, 
does, as far as he is able, destroy that, which should perpetually 
defend himself and his acquisitions." p. viii. 

" No community can subsist without laws." p. ix. 

" The civil law is that which arises from the civil power : the 
civil power, is that which governs any city. Now a city is a complete 
company of free men, associated for the defence of their own rights 
and for their common advantage." /. i. c. 1. s. xiv. 

" Although the civil law can enjoin nothing that the law of na- 
ture forbids, nor forbid any thing that it commands ; yet it may limit 
and circumscribe that which the law of nature leaves free ; and 
forbid that, which naturally may be lawful. And so the civil law, 
by interposing her authority, may prevent that dominion, which 
naturally might be acquired." I. ii. c. ii. s. v. Vide ib. Cumberland 
Of the Laws of Nature, c. vi. s. ix. et Puffendorf, 1. ii. c. v. s. iv. 

" Unless there was a power over us to restrain our inordinate lusts, 
men would be more fierce and cruel than lions and tygers, not only 
biting, but eating and devouring one another. Take away tribunals 
of justice, and you take away all right, property and dominion : 
no man could say, this is my house, this is my land, these my 
goods or my servants ; but the longest sword would take all. 
Chrysostom de Statuis, 6. ad Eplu 5." Vide ib. Puffendorf. Law of 
Nature, lib. ii. c. v. s. vi. & vii. 

** All men have their failings, we ourselves have ours ; and in 
case we will admit of none in kings, we must not rank them amongst 
men but Gods. 

«' If we can find nothing under the sun without blemish, why 
should we expect perfection in kings? He is very uncharitable, 
that judges of rulers by some few of their evil deeds, passing over 
many of their good ones. Seeing therefore, that there is in all men, 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 177 

as in our best coin, a mixture of good and evil, it is sufficient to 
denominate a prince good, if his virtues excel his errors. Besides, 
to charge the vices of princes upon the government, as they usually 
do, who affect innovation, is but a cheat : for what is this, but to 
condemn the law, for the corruption of some lawyers: or agricul- 
ture, because some husbandmen do curse God for a storm ? Si 
mentiar, ego mentior, non negotium : if I do lie (says the merchant 
in St. Augustine,) it is I that am to be blamed, not my calling. 
And if some princes do prevaricate in some things, they and not 
their function are to be blamed. But as to laws, though they can- 
not be so made as to fit every man's case, yet they may be called 
good, if they obviate such disorders as are frequently practised, 
and so benefit the generality of the people." Grotius, ib. b. 1. c. iv. 
s. iv. 

Cumberland, after discoursing of universal justice, remarks, 
" From this abstract of the more general laws of nature, the transi- 
tion is easy to the consideration of those dictates of reason, which 
direct all to the forming and preserving societies with a power, not 
only of making rules, but enforcing them by punishment. For 
* such societies are necessary to enforce the observance of the laws of 
nature, to the honor of God and happiness of mankind ; but espe- 
cially of those who are members of such societies. And therefore, 
a law of nature being given, which commands us to promote the 
end, a law is likewise given, prescribing the settlement and preser- 
vation of so necessary a means as society with sovereign power.' 
The necessity of this means to the end, is easily learnt from the 
common experience of all, * in those things which respect the care 
of a family, or the building of a house; or the production of any 
other effect, to which the different services of several persons are 
required; whera we perceive that all our labor is bestowed in vain, 
except some command and others obey.' For it is evident, * that 
the procuring the greatest good the whole society of rational beings 
is capable of, is an effect more complicated and intricate than any 
of these now mentioned ;' and £ that it depends necessarily upon 
the concurrent assistance of every one, by mutual services of very 
different kinds ;' and ' that it is therefore impossible to obtain such 
effect, though foreseen and designed, with certainty and steadiness, 
except a subordination of rational beings be established, and all 
obey God as the supreme and most perfect rational agent, by ob- 
serving those natural laws common to all natipns,' 

Ch. Ma. M 



17 $ The Christian's Manual. 

" It is evident « that some bodily motions of men are requisite in 
every good office, especially in the acquisition, use, and alienation 
of dominion over things and persons, in which all justice is con- 
tained.' It is therefore necessary * to establish a subordination 
among such motions of theirs, and -consequently among men them- 
selves, in order to their conspiring to produce one and the same 
effect, the common good.' " Of the Latvs of Nature, c, 9. s. v. 

" From the paternal power are we to take the copy and deduce 
the origin of power, both civil and ecclesiastical. 

" A family, therefore, was the first regular society ; the first 
civil state, and at the same time, the first church." ib, s. vi. 

God commands subordination : Put them in mind to be subject to 
principalities and poxvers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every 
goodxvork. Titus iii. 1. Fear God. Honor the King. 1 Peter ii. 17. 
Matt. xvii. 27. xxii. 21. Luke xiv. 8. Rom. xiii. 1 — 7. 1 Tim. ii. 
1, 2. 1 Peter, v. 5. 2. ii. 9, 10.; and has bestowed different talents, 
which, like the various parts of the body, have their several uses. 
And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee ; nor 
again, the hand to the feet, 1 have no need of you. 1 Cor. xii. 21— 
28. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Ephes. 
v. 21 . Let us not be desirous of envying one another. Gal. v. 26. 

" It is the duty of citizens neither to debase themselves below their 
just height, nor to endeavour to raise themselves above it; and to 
follow those things, which are honest and peaceable in the common- 
wealth : such we call good citizens." Cicero Qffic. I. 1. c. xxxiv. 

Puffendorf says, " We call him a true patriot and good subject, 
who readily obeys the commands of his governors ; who strives to 
promote the public good, and next regards his private affairs ; who 
esteems nothing profitable to himself, unless the same is likewise 
profitable to the community ; lastly, who behaves himself honestly 
towards his fellow subjects." Laxo of Nature, I. ii. c. v. s. v. 

" And because the concerns of any civil society can neither in 
time of war or peace be managed without expenses, the supreme 
authority has power to compel the subjects to provide the same :-*- 
which is done several ways ; either when the community appropri- 
ates a certain portion of the revenues of the country they possess for 
this purpose ; or when each subject contributes something out of his 
own estate, and, if occasion requires, gives also his personal aid 
and assistance ; or when customs are fixed upon commodities im- 
ported and exported, (of which die first chiefly affects the subjects, 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 1 79 



and the other foreigners) ; or lastly, when some moderate tax is 
laid on those commodities which are consumed. " lb. c. vii. s. vii. 

The enlightened Phocion, conversing with Aristias on the subject 
of a good or bad government, observed, " I have often heard Plato 
discuss this point, he excepted against monarchy, aristocracy, and de- 
mocracy. Never, said he, are the laws a security under those admi- 
nistrations, which leave too free a range to the passions. He was 
afraid of the power of a prince, who, being sole legislator, makes 
himself sole judge of the justice of his laws. In an aristocracy, he 
feared the pride and avarice of the great, who imagining themselves 
lords of all, will wantonly sacrifice the interest of the public to their 
own private advantages. In a mere democracy, he dreaded the 
sallies of a multitude, ever blind, ever extreme in its desires, and 
which to-morrow will, with outrageous fury, exclaim against what 
to-day it praises with enthusiastic effusions." 

" That great man," continued Phocion, " was for a judicious 
mixture of all these governments ; that the public power being 
divided among different parties, they might be proper correctives 
and balances to each other." Convers. ii. by Nicoclcs. 

A wise government will assiduously attend to the first symptoms 
of disease in the body politic, and observe that excellent medical 
maxim, " principiis obsta ;" otherwise the distemper spreads, pro- 
duces despair, and throws the body into the hands of political 
quacks, who, to remove a partial complaint, destroy the health of 
the whole constitution. 

Some foolish and licentious persons, impatient at the just re- 
straints of the law, and dissatisfied with that freedom, which is con- 
sistent with the welfare and happiness of rational creatures, under 
the specious name of liberty, aim at the subversion of all institu- 
tions ; discovering some errors and abuses in a government, which 
are incident to every extensive private establishment, they artfully 
magnify them, and flatter the populace with a declaration, that 
" the voice of the people is the voice of God ;" whereas the voice 
of such people, is the voice of misguided men. A prudent govern- 
ment, whilst it respectfully listens to the representation of serious 
and reflecting men, will despise the voice of the giddy and incon- 
stant mob, who are not influenced by reason, but passion. How 
many champions for liberty and equality have railed against the 
conduct and elevation of others, and when they have basely pro- 



180 The Christian's Manual. 

them. " Your Majesty, your Highness, your Grace, your 
Excellency, and the like titles, though you sometimes hear, yet 



cured their deposition, cheerfully occupied their places, and pre- 
served them by the most eruel tyranny ? A good man will not 
blindly submit to the direction of any parly, but obey the dictates 
of his conscience, and always prefer the general interests of the 
community to the gain of a few. 

1 The excellent advice of the Pagan Emperor, M. A. Antoninus, 
merits the attention of every Christian King :— «-" Beware when 
you take the title of Caesar, that you do not insensibly assume too 
much of the Emperor, nor be infected with the haughty manners 
of some of your predecessors j for there is a possibility of such an 
event. Take care therefore to preserve the simplicity, the native 
goodness and integrity of your character ; be serious, free from 
ostentation, and a lover of justice ; pious, humane, affectionate to 
your relations, and constant in the discharge of every social duty." 
"Consult the good of mankind — life is short, and the chief con- 
cern of man in this world is, to preserve a good conscience, and to 
make himself useful to mankind. 

" Act always as becomes a pupil of Antoninus Pius ; imitate 
him in the constant tenor of his conduct ; in the evenness of his 
temper ; in the sanctity of his manners ; the serenity of his coun- 
tenance ; his affability ; his contempt of vain glory ; in his steadi- 
ness and patience in investigating the truth ; and his never passing 
over any affair, till he had thoroughly examined and clearly underr 
stood it. Remember how patiently he bore unmerited reproach 
without any retaliation ; how careful he was not to engage pre- 
cipitately in any affair, nor to listen to informers ; what an accurate 
inspector he was into the character and actions of men; yet by no 
means of a satirical turn ; neither suspicious, nor timorous ; nor 
affecting, like the sophists, more wisdom than he really possessed, 

" How little importance he placed on the pomp and splendor of 
life, appeared in his palace, his furniture, his dress, his table, and 
his attendants. He bore fatigue and confinement so well, that he 
frequently continued on business in the same room till late at even- 
ing, without any inconvenience. 

" He was constant and uniform in his attachment to his friends, 
and bore with complacency their freedom in opposing his opinion ; 



T^ule VI. Christ the Christian' $ pattern. 181 

far from arrogating, ascribe them all to Christ. 1 Be most 

and was always pleased when they proposed some better expedient 
than his own. He was religious without superstition. Imitate 
him then in these things ; and when your last hour approaches, 
may it find you possessed of as good a conscience as he was." 
Medit. I. vu s. 27. 

Antoninus Pius expended his private fortune in charity, and when 
reproached by the Empress, said, " When I undertook to be Em- 
peror, I laid aside the interests of an individual ! I V 

" For magistrates in a free city to endeavour to make themselves 
feared by the people, is one of the most rash and desperate attempts 
upon the face of the earth." 

" Let us therefore embrace and adhere to that method, which is 
of the most universal influence ; and not only secures our posses- 
sions, but enlarges our power and authority ; that is, let us rather 
strive to be loved than feared, which is the best way to make us 
successful alike in private and public business." Cicero Offic. I. ii, 
s. vii. 

" The most general rule to be observed by Governors is this : 
The good of the public is the supreme law. Because in conferring 
the government upon them,what is there else intended, but to secure 
the common end for which societies were originally constituted ? 
From whence they ought to conclude, that whatsoever is not expe- 
dient for the public to be done, is not expedient for themselves." 
Puffendorf Latv of Nature, I. n, c. xi. s. iii. 

" Kings, who levy taxes, should be like the sun, which exhales 
vapors, and returns them in fruitful showers." 

Titus Vespasian, called the Darling of Mankind, having one 
day neglected to administer relief to the poor, exclaimed, " I have 
lost a day." 

1 When a clergyman was so bold as to pronounce Constantine 
the Great blessed, in regard he had been vouchsafed the supreme 
empire over the Roman world ; and also that in the life to come he 
should reign together with the Son of God ; Constantine was highly 
offended, and advised the man not to presume to utter such words ; 
but rather by prayer make his humble request to God, that in this 
life and hereafter, he might appear worthy to be numbered amongst 
the servants of God. Eusebius, De Vit. Constant, lib. 4. c. 48. 

How nobly did his present Majesty 1 reprove a preacher, who 



182 The Christian's Manual. 

unconcerned where an injury only regards yourself. Think not 
how high you are, but how great a weight you sustain ; so be 
your care greater : taking your measures of government, not 
from your ancestors, much less your flatterers, but from Christ 
himself. For would it not be absurd for a Christian Prince to 
take pattern by Hannibal, Alexander the Great, Caesar or 
Pompey ? especially should he imitate their defects, without 
their virtues. All that historians applaud in them ought not to 
be the object of your imitation; except it agrees with the doc- 
trine of our Saviour, and serves to kindle a zeal for virtue. Let 
not your whole kingdom tempt you to do wrong ; for you had 
far better lose that than Christ. Fear not, he will reward you 
for your lost dominion, with that which is beyond all territory 
and power. Nothing can be more becoming, magnificent, and 
glorious in kings, than to approach as near as possible to the 
likeness of him, who is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, (a) 
and whose goodness, as well as power, is infinite. - Jesus 
while on earth displayed his infinite goodness, as the fittest 
object of our imitation. (6) A Christian King rules not with 
a rod of power, but a globe of charity ; and thinks himself 
the servant, not the lord of all. / 

But why do I launch into the boundless ocean of vulgar 
errors ? Whichever way the spiritual man turns, he will 
find abundant matter for reproof, more for weeping ; he 
cannot but observe the most depraved and unchristian notions 
everywhere prevailing ; many have originated from our con- 
founding Christianity and the world. What the early 
Christian writers have said of the world, the ignorant have ap- 
plied only to monks. Whereas the world, means unbelievers, 
apostates, blasphemers, all who violate the precepts of Christ ;(c) 
and that are careful and troubled, about many things : (d) eagerly 



shortly after his accession used the language of flattery ; " I came 
to church to hear the praises of God, not my own !" 

(a) 1 Tim. vi. 15. (b) John xiii. 15. 34. 

(c) 1 John ii. 15—17. James iv. 4. John xv. 18, 19. 1 John v. 19. 
. (d) Luke x.41. 



Rule VI. Christ the Christian's pattern. 183 

contending for wealth, power, and enjoyments, and that are 
blinded with the glare of visible things, and mistake false 
blessings for real. This is that world which knew not Christ, 
its true light, {a) Christ, at the day of judgment, will separate 
the wheat from the tares, the wicked from among the just, and 
shall cast them into the furnace of fire, (b) By an abuse of the 
word, we buoy ourselves up in vice and folly. This evil is 
increased by many teachers, who corrupt the word of God, ( c ) 
and adapt it to the taste of the times ♦, whereas they ought 
rather to form men's morals by that blessed and unerring rule. 
There is no flattery more pernicious, than that of soothing, in- 
stead of boldly destroying vice. 

It is an enormous abuse of the examples of holy men, when 
we imitate only the bad part of their characters. * Why 
avert our eyes from Christ to behold them ? They are no far- 
ther to be followed by Christians, than they lead in the way and 
doctrine of Christ. Instead of that, we imitate their faults, and 
neglect their virtues. St. Matthew, by the speaking of two words, 
without delay relinquished the lucrative business of a col- 
lector; (d) whereas you are so attached to money, that all the 
pious examples, the continual reading of the Gospels, and hear- 
ing of sermons, cannot in the least divert your purpose. It is ex- 
tremely mischievous, when we clothe our vices in the dress of 



1 Let no man act thus in the fallacious hope of palliation for his 
crime ; no such will be admitted by our great Judge. Matt. xiii. 41. 
42. " For a more perfect and exact obedience is required from us, 
than was from the Jews ; because the coming of Christ heightens 
our hopes, by far more precious promises." Grotius, Of War and 
Peace, Preface xviii. ib. b. 1. c. 11. s. vi. et vide Matt. xix. 8. Mark 
x. 5. Chrysostom, and Taylor's Discourse, before cited in n. p. 12. 
and (') 124. 



(a) John i. 9, 10. (b) Matt. xiii. 

(c) 2 Cor. ii. 17. 1 Thess. ii. 3-7. («0 Matt. ix. 0. 



i 



184 The Christian's Manual. 

'■*•■ 

virtue, and are quicker in defending our faults, than diligent in 
amending them j and especially when we have learnt the de- 
ceitful art of vindicating our wicked opinions by false applica- 
tions and misconstructions of Scripture, (a) Wherefore; my 
dearest brethren, rejecting the customs and sentiments of the 
vulgar, adhere wholly and steadfastly to Christianity, having 
equal contempt for the pains or pleasures of sense j and let 
Christ be your chief comfort, who will teach you to think 
rightly, and to live happily, (b) The world accounts this to be 
mere folly and distraction ; yet happy that fool, who is wise unto 
Christ ; and miserable folly it is, not to know him. 

Observe, although we ought to differ as much as possible in 
our sentiments and conduct from the vulgar, yet we should be 
careful, lest we grow so cynical, as to cavil at other men's opi- 
nions and actions, superciliously to condemn, or bitterly inveigh 
against them 5 by which means, being hated, we should be hin- 
dered from reforming them, (c) Be kind to all, but let your 
principles remain immoveable. Be all goodness, gentleness 
and affability, (d) that you may win your brother, who ought to 
be allured to Christ by good usage, and not frightened away by 
bad.(<?) Your holy religion should appear, not in pompous words, 
but in deeds. (f) Neither may you be so indulgent to the weakness 
of the generality, as to be afraid to assert and maintain the truth 
upon every occasion : for good nature must be used to amende 
and not to deceive others, (g) 



(a) Matt. iv. 4—10. (b) Rom. xv. 4. 

{c) Rom. xv. J, 2. Phil. ii. 3. 14. (d) 1 Peter iii. 8. 

(e) 2 Tim. ii. 24—26. 1 Cor. x. 32, 33. {/) 1 Peter iii. 16. 
(g) Levit. xix. 17. ,1 Thess. v. 14. Titus i. 13. 



Rule VII. Of slender Improvements* 183 

RULE .VII. 

Of slender Improvements in Virtue. 

We are to exert all our strength to attain spiritual perfec- 
tion— -i?<? ye therefore perfect, even as your Father 'which is in 
heaven is perfect, (a) We should possess our whole minds with 
admiration of things above ; that the love of Christ, of virtue, 
and eternity, may produce in us a contempt of what is transient, 
and a hatred of what is sinful. If by our own faults we do not 
arrive at perfection, let us render ourselves as worthy as we can 
of the mercy of God. If in this race, we are so slow as to be al- 
most distanced by the apostles and the martyrs, let us not permit 
heathens to outrun us : some of whom, though they knew God 
but imperfectly, yet thought that wickedness was of itself to be 
avoided ; insomuch that they chose rather to part with money 
and life, than virtue. * Therefore, let us abhor that which is 



1 f* For whatever difference there may be in some particular laws, 
it is certain, that as to the main and particular branches of morality, 
there never was any nation but owned that to love and honor God ; 
to be grateful to benefactors ; to perform equitable compacts ; to 
preserve and love innocent and harmless men, and the like, were 
things fitter and better to be practised than the contrary." Cumber- 
land, of Natural Good, c. 3. s. iii. 

Cumberland correctly restrains the observance of compacts to 
such as are equitable — we must refuse the performance of all 
others ; because we are under a prior obligation to discharge our 
duty to God and society. The guilt does not consist in violating 
such engagements, but in having entered into them. The solem- 
nity of an oath will not alter the rule ; for as Grotius says, " To 
make an oath binding, it is necessary that it relate to things lawful. 
For if the thing promised upon oath be prohibited by the law of 
nature, or the revealed law, or by human laws, it has no power to 

(«) Matt. v. 48. James i. 4. 



186 The Christian's Manual. 

evil ; cleave to that which is good: (a) and pray God to assist 
our earnest endeavours, (b) that we may abound more and 
more, (c) and go on unto perfection, (d) 



bind us. That which is unlawful to be sworn is unlawful to be 
done, being sworn ; and that which is unlawful for us to do, is un- 
lawful to be sworn." - 

" It is good advice Philo gives in this case, < He does but accu- 
mulate one sin upon another, who, to a wicked oath, adds a dis- 
honest action. Wherefore let him that has ensnared his soul by a 
rash vow, refrain from doing wickedly, that God, who is rich in 
mercy, may forgive him. For wilfully to incur a double guilt, 
when he may be acquitted from a single one, is an incurable rash- 
ness.' 

" Make no scruple of breaking that oath that would bind you to 
a dishonest or base action, for that promise is of no force and 
wicked, that cannot be fulfilled but by making you wicked. ,, Isidore. 
Grotius, Of War and Peace. " Of Oaths" b. ii. c. xiii. s. vi. 

Puffendorf declares, " An oath shall have no obligation upon me 
to do an unlawful act, or to omit the performance of my duty en- 
joined by the law of God or man." /. I.e. xi. s. vi. 

« As in matters of sense, the reason why a thing is visible, is not 
because it is seen, but it is therefore seen, because it is visible ; so 
in matters of natural reason and morality, that which is holy and 
good, is not therefore holy and good, because it is commanded to 
be done ; but it is therefore commanded by God, because it is holy 
and good." Plato. 

" If a good man had it in his power to gain all his neigh- 
bour's wealth by the least motion of his finger, and was sure it 
would never be known or suspected by any living person, unques- 
tionably he would think he ought not to do it ; and whoever 
wonders at this, has no notion what it is to be really a good man ! ! ! " 
Cicero De Offic. I. iii. c. xix. 

" All good men love right and equity, and do many things with- 
out any prospect of advantage, merely because they are just, right 
and fit to be done." lb. de leg. I. i. 

(a) Rom. xii. 9. (b) Matt. vii. 7. 

(c) lThcss.iv. 1. (d) Heb. vi. t. 



Rule VIII. Against Temptations and Afflictions. 187 

RULE VIII. 

Against being discouraged by Temptations and Afflictions. 

If you are frequently or violently assailed with temptations 
and afflictions, do not disturb yourself, as if God neither loved 
or regarded you. l But rather give thanks, that he instructs you 
as a future heir, scourges you as a most dearly beloved son, and 
tries you as a purposed friend, [a) The greatest argument of a 
man's being unworthy of the favor of God, is being free from 
temptations and afflictions. z Remember St. Paul, who, though 
he was caught up to the third heaven, and heard unspeakable 
words, nevertheless, there was given to him a thorn in the 
Jlesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him, 'lest he should be 
exalted above measure, (b) Remember Job, the friend of God. 
If you suffer no more than others have done, why murmur or 
despair ? (c) Rather try with them, to obtain a victory ; God 
will not forsake you, but will, with the temptation, also make a 
way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (d) 

1 " God beholds and moderates our actions, using the scourge 
of affliction for our chastisement and conversion ; and after due cor- 
rection, shows his fatherly affection to those that trust in him for 
salvation. " Nicephorus, (A. D. 1110.) 

2 " Waters of affliction, as the waters to the ark, mount us 
nearer heaven." Allestree. 

«' The malice of Joseph's brethren was the means whereby God 
brought about many admirable works of his providence. ,, Origen, 
(died An. 220.) 

" Your fear of God and confidence in him, should indeed be 

(«) 2 Sam. vii. 14. Job v. 17. Ps. cxix. 71. Isai. xlviii. 10. James i. 
3, 3, 12. Heb. xii. 5. (b) 2 Cor. xii. 1—9. 

(c) Ps. xxxiv. 19. xxvii. 11. (d) 1 Cor. x. 13. 2 Peter ii. 9. Heb. ii. 13. 



188 The Christian's Manual. 



strong enough to prepare yon for all encounters. Thus the loss of 
your estate ; racking pains and torments in all your limbs ; the se- 
paration of your wife, children* or dearest friends ; should rather be 
considered as exercises, than as stumbling-blocks : instead of 
weakening the faith and hope of a Christian, they should rather ex- 
emplify the powers of them ; and a firm dependance on future good* 
should destroy his sense of any present evil. There can be no 
victory without a struggle for it." 

" A storm proves the skill of a pilot, and a soldier's valor must 
be tried in battle. The tree which is deeply rooted will not give 
way to the utmost fury of the winds ; a tight vessel will bear the 
assaults of the waves, without breaking ; and when corn is thresh- 
ed, you may observe the true grain untouched by any blast of wind, 
whilst the chaff is dispersed and carried off l?y it." Cyprian, Of 
the Plague, s. 9. (Martyr. An. 25$) 

I must caution you against the atrocious crime of suicide. 

" That every man ought to preserve his own being as long as 
he is able, is evident ; because, what he is not himself the author 
and giver of, he can never of himself have just power or authority 
to take away. He that sent us into the world, and alone knows for 
how long time he appointed us our station here, and when we have 
finished all the business he intended we should do ; can alone judge 
when it is fit for us to be taken hence, and has alone authority to 
dismiss and discharge us. This reasoning has been admirably ap- 
plied by Plato, Cicero, and others of the best philosophers ; so that 
though the Stoics of old, and the Deists of late, have in their rant- 
ing discourses, and some few of them in their rash practice, con- 
tradicted it ; yet they have never been able, with any color of rea^ 
son, to answer or evade the force of the argument ; which indeed, 
to speak the truth, has been urged by the forementioned philoso- 
phers, with such singular beauty, as well as invincible strength, 
that it seems not capable of having any thing added to it. Where- 
fore I shall give it you only in some of their own words. — * We, 
men,' {says Plato in the person of Socrates, Plato in Phced.) < are 
all, by the appointment of God, in a certain prison or custody, 
which we ought not to break out of, and run away. We are as 
servants or as cattle, in the hand of God : and would not any of 
us/ saith he, * if one of our servants should, contrary to our dir 
rection, and to escape out of our service, kill himself, think we had 



Rule VIII. Against Temptations and Afflictions.. 189 



just reason to be very angry, and, if it was in our power, punish 
him for it ?' So likewise Cicero : (Cic. Tusc. lib. 1. s. xxx.) « God,' 
says he, ' the Supreme Governor of all things, forbids us to depart 
hence without his order; and though when the Divine Providence 
does itself offer us a just occasion of leaving this world,* (as when a 
man chooses to suffer death rather than commit wickedness), c a 
wise man will then indeed depart joyfully, as out of a place of sor- 
row and darkness into light ; yet he will not be in such haste as to 
break his prison contrary to law ; but will go when God calls him, 
as a prisoner, when dismissed by the magistrate or lawful power.' 
Again : * That short remainder pf life/ saith he, {Cic. de Senecl.) 
* which old men have a prospect of, they ought neither too eagerly 
to desire, nor yet on the contrary unreasonably and discontentedly 
deprive themselves of it : for, as Pythagoras teaches, * it is as un- 
lawful for a man, without the command of God, to remove himself 
out of the world, as for a soldier to leave his post without his Ge- 
neral's order.'* And in another place: « Unless that God,' 
saith he, (Cic. Somn. Scipion.) c whose temple and palace this whole 
world is, discharges you himself out of the prison of the body, 
you can never be received to his favor. Wherefore you, and all 
pious men, ought to have patience to continue in the body as long 
as God shall please, who sent us hither ; and not force yourselves 
out of the world, before he calls for you ; lest you be found desert- 
ers of the station appointed you by God.' And to mention no 
more, that excellent author, Arrian, (lib. 1.) « wait,' saith he, « the 
good pleasure of God ; when he signifies it to be his will, that you 
should be discharged from this 'service, then depart willingly. But 
in the mean time have patience, and tarry in the place where he 
has appointed you : wait, and do not hurry yourselves away wil- 
fully and unreasonably.' " Clarke, Evidences of Natural and Revealed 
Religion, p. 209. 

Thus the most intelligent heathens condemned it. In confir- 
mation of their sentiments, I will add those of Christians. 

Lactantius observes, " It is better to prolong our life in misery, 
than to hasten our death without hope of mercy." 

Jerome says, " Even the case of persecution will not warrant a 



* Symbol xxxvii. Vide Dacicr's Life of Pythagoras, p. 113. 



190 The Christian's Manual. * 

RULE IX. 

Of resisting the Jirst motions to Sin. 

As prudent Generals are never off their guard, so be you pre- 
pared against every attack of the enemy : watch ye, standfast in 

man's dying by his own hands. God receives no souls that come 
without his order." 

And Chrysostom, " The Christians hold all self-murder in the 
greatest abhorrence, and the guilt is enormous." 

Watts remarks, " If a man believes there is a God who made him, 
and if he believes his soul immortal, and that his Creator has ordain- 
ed it to dwell in a human body for a season, and to pass a state of 
probation there, in order to eternal reward or punishment, surely this 
man must confess himself accountable to God hereafter for all his 
conduct here ; one would think such a person should never doubt 
whether the destruction of his body by his own hands, and the wil- 
ful dismission of his soul, were a crime, or no; especially if he pro- 
fess to believe his Bible." " On Self Murther" 

It is a horrid sin — it precludes pardon, for there is no repent- 
ance in the grave ; and however juries, influenced by compassion 
for the sorrowful relatives, may violate their oaths, and return a 
verdict of insanity, God, who searches the heart, will not be de- 
ceived. 

In your patience possess ye your souls. Luke xxi. 19. 

Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking 
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our Faith. Heb. xii. 1. 2. 

Take, my brethren, the Prophets i who have spoken in the name of 
the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 
Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the 
patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord ; that the Lord 
is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. James v. 10. 11. Rom. v. 3. 
1 Peter i. 9. 1 Cor. x. 13. 

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation ; for when he is tried, 
he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to 
them that love him. James i. 12. 



Rules X, XI. Various ways of overcoming Temptations, $c. 191 

the Faith, quit you like men, be strong, (a) By this means you 
will be able to resist, (b) and repel any sudden assault ; and the 
God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly, (c) 



RULE x. 

Various ways of overcoming Temptations* 

1 he principal means of resisting the Tempter are these : to 
conceive an implacable hatred against him ; to pray fervently -,(d) 
to apply diligently to some good employment ; to answer him 
out of the Holy Scriptures : (e) for this purpose, it will be no 
small advantage to be provided with select passages, especially 
such as have much affected you. 



RULE XI. 

Against Presumption and Despair. 

I here are two dangerous extremes into which men run ; the 
one is, being under temptation and affliction, they frequently aban-? 



(a) 1 Cor. xvi. 13. (b) James iv. 7. (c) Rom. xvi. 20. 

(d) Meb. iv. 15, 16. (e) Matt. iv. 



192 The Christian's Man-ual. 

don themselves to despair ;* the other, that they are too much ele- 
vated with spiritual joy upon a victory. z Therefore, when you 
are tempted to evil, do not so much consider your weakness, as 
reflect that you can do all things, through Christ strengthening 
you •, (a) who said not to the Apostles only, but unto all, Be of 
good cheer, I have overcome the world, (b) After having re- 
pulsed the Tempter, or being engaged in any good work, when 
you find your mind elated, be particularly careful, that you do 
not become presumptuous. When ye shall have done all those 
things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable 
servants ; we have done that which was our duty to do. (c) 



RULE XII. 

Of the Improvement that may be made of Tempi at ions. 

In your conflict with the enemy, it is not sufficient to avoid or 
repel a blow, but you ought to wrench the weapon out of his 
hand, and wound him with his own sword. This may be done, 



1 " To comfort those that despair, the gate of mercy is open to 
all penitents ; and to terrify the presumptuous, who defer repent- 
ance, the day of death is uncertain." 

" God has tempered his promises with threats, so as to exclude 
both despair and presumption." 

2 " He that begins to grow better, let him beware lest he grow 
proud; and vain glory give him a greater overthrow than his 
former vices." Isidore, died A. D. 675. 

(«) Phil. iv. 13. Ps. xxxiv. 4. (b) John xvi. 33. 

(r) Luke xvii. 10. 



Rule XIII. That we ought always to be upon our Guard, 193 

not only by not yielding to a temptation, but by taking occasion 
from thence to exercise some act of virtue ; and thus, not con- 
tent with being uninjured by the temptation, become more 
pious. For instance, — Are you incited to lust ? Apply more 
strenuously to spiritual pursuits. — Are you inclined to covetous- 
ness ? Increase your alms. — Are you exalted by vain-glory ? Be 
the more humble. Thus every temptation will be the renewal 
of your holy purpose, and an improvement in virtue. This is 
the best method of subduing your implacable enemy ; for he will 
not dare renew the attack, lest he be the occasion of your grow- 
ing better. 



RULE XIII. 

That we ought always to be upon our Guard 

JbiGHT always with courage and resolution; and when you 
have overcome, be ready to enter the lists again. For one 
temptation after another must be expected, and we must never 
lay down our arms, never desert our post, never cease watching, 
so long as we keep garrison in this citadel the body. Be con- 
stantly upon guard, (a) 



(a) Matt, xxvi.41. 1 Cor.xvi. 13. 1 Thess. v. <5. 
Ch. Ma. ]vj 



194 Tlie Christian's Manual. 



rule XIV. 



Against excusing our own Sins, and condemning those 
of others. 



We must regard no sin as a little one : (a) no enemy has 
oftener obtained the victory, than one who has been despised. I 
find mankind miserably deceived j they condemn every sin, but one 
or two they are guilty of themselves •, (b) and which they think 
venial, and distinguish by the gentle term of peccadilloes. The 
generality of those the world calls honest and good men, abhor 
theft, rapine, murder, adultery, and incest ; but as for fraud, simple 
fornication, and the moderate use of vicious pleasure, they 
have no objection to, and think them small faults. Another is 
very exact in all other parts of his duty, but luxurious, and in- 
temperate in eating or drinking. Some are licentious talkers, 
others are vain and arrogant. What sin shall we not be addicted 
to, if every one thus palliates his own ? When men delight in 
one vice, it is an argument that they are not possessed of any 
solid virtue, but only assume the appearance thereof. He who 
hates sin, like a Christian, detests all ; and pushes on his con- 
quest over the whole army of lusts. Every day we should be 
diminishing our vices, and increasing our virtues. 



(a) Jam«s ii. 10, 11. 1 John hi. 3, 4. (,b) Matt. vii. 1— . r ». 



Rules XV, XVI. Against Temptations and Despair. 195 



RULE XV. 

Of the comparative pain and pleasure of resisting or 
yielding to a temptation. 

If you are afraid of the difficulty that must be encountered in 
subduing temptations, apply this remedy : Do not compare the 
trouble of resisting, with the present gratification of committing 
sin, but with the future pain of sinning ; and also with the sweet- 
ness of a victory, and that ensuing peace of mind, which attends a 
good soldier of Jesus, and you will immediately see, there can 
be no competition. But foolish men are deceived ; they com- 
pare the irksomeness of the resistance, with the gratification of 
sin, without regarding the consequence of either. He that 
yields, will have much greater and more durable vexation, than 
him that resists a temptation : — The victor will find more sincere 
and permanent pleasures, than those which the captive of sin is 
ensnared with, (a) He must be a slothful and corrupt man, that 
daily yields to a temptation, and will never try what it is to 
conquer one ; which, the more frequently he does, the more 
joyful will be his triumph. 



RULE XVI. 

Against Despair. 

If you receive a dangerous wound, take care that you do hot 
lay down your arms, and surrender to the enemy. Many per- 
sons of weak minds, being once overthrown, never think of rally- 



( a) J Inn. i. 5. Prov. x$iii. 14. Ps. xxxviii. 4. 



196 The Christian's Manual. 

ing, and recovering their liberty, but abandon themselves to 
their passions. This is a very dangerous cowardice, and often 
leads to the great crime of despair.(a) When you have sinned, do 
not despond, but, like valiant soldiers, who are urged by shame, 
and the smart of a wound, renew the battle with more warmth 
and spirit. Immediately summon fresh courage, and atone for 
your shameful defeat, by an extraordinary zeal for virtue. (Z>) r 
It will be much easier to cure one wound than many \ a fresh, 
than an inveterate one. Stand up therefore, be of good courage, 
and return to the combat with more zeal and caution. 2 



RULE XVII. 

The benefits of the Cross of Christ. 

Several means may be directed to withstand the various 
assaults of sin or adversity j but the most effectual and only 
one against all, is the Cross of Christ ; which is a guide to the 
erroneous, (c) and a comfort to the afflicted, (c?) But it 
is necessary to be diligently exercised therein, yet not after the 
vulgar manner 5 for there are some, who stupidly confide in a 



1 « Repentance is renouncing the works of the Devil, the vani- 
ties of the world, and the sinful lusts of the flesh." Clarke, Expos. 
Catech.jp. 40. 

" It proceeds from a true sense of the evil of sin, and produces a 
real and effectual change and reformation of life." lb. p. 134. 

* If the wicked shall turn from all his sins that he hath committed, 
and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he 
shall surely live, he shall not die. Ezekiel xviii. 21 — 23. Isai. lv. 7. 
i. 18—20. 

(a) Jcrem. xviii. 11—17. (b) Dan. iv. 27. (c) John xiv. 18- 
(d) Matt. xi. 28—30. John xvi. 33. Rom. viii. 35. 



Rule XVII. The benefits of the Cross of Christ. 197 

dead faith (a) or particular human ceremonies and institutions. 
But do you, brethren, gather its genuine fruits ; the principal 
are these ; that we his members resemble our head, by mortify- 
ing our earthly affections, (b) which, if the Spirit of Christ be in 
us, will, so far from being disagreeable, be most pleasant, (c) 
In order to obtain greater benefits from the Cross, a man should 
be well versed in the holy art of parrying, as it were, with his 
inclinations, that he may be prepared : for what prudent General 
defers the discipline of his troops, till the day of battle ? Apply 
the corresponding part of the Cross, to the particular affections 
that you would mortify, For instance, when you are delighted 
with the applause of this world, or dejected by its laughter and 
contempt, reflect how great Christ is, and how he humbled him- 
self for you. (d) Are you of an envious, evil disposition ? 
Remember how beneficently and willingly he gave his life a 
ransom for many, (e) and how good he was, even to the worst 
of men. Are you intemperate ? Consider how Christ lived in 
the midst of continual pains, want, and affliction. (J ) Are you 
moved to anger? Think of him, who, as a sheep before her 
shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth, (g) Are you re- 
vengeful ? Remember how he interceded for his persecutors, 
even under the agonies of the Cross, saying, " Father, forgive 
them." (h) Does poverty sit heavy upon you, or the love of 
money entice you ? Recollect that he, though Lord of all, for 
your sakes became poor,(i) that he had not where to lay his 
head. (Jc) l In every other temptation, think thus : conform to 
your gracious master, and in part recompense him for his ex- 
quisite sufferings on your account. 

1 « Will not a knife cut as well though it have not an ivory 
handle, or be garnished with silver; or an earthen bason serve to 
wash the hands ? Will not a table hold our provisions unless its feet 
be made of ivory; or a lamp give its light, although made by a 
potter, as well as if it were the work of the goldsmith ? May not a 

(a) James ii. 14—26. (b) Col. iii. 5. (c) John xiv. 15. 

(d) John v. 41. Phil. ii. 7, 8. (e) Matt. xx. 28. (/) Heb. xii. 2, 3, 

',$) Isai. liii. 7. 1 Peter ii. 21— <93. (h) Lukexxiii. 34. 

(«j 3 ('or. viii. 9. (fa Matt. viil. 20. 



} 98 The Christian's Manual. 

RULE XVIII. 

Of the dignity of Man. 

JtvEFLECT how base, accursed and destructive a thing sin is, 
and, on the contrary, of what dignity man is. 1 In matters even of 



man sleep as well upon a pallet, as upon a bed adorned with 
ivory ; upon a goat's skin, as well as upon a purple, or a Phoenician 
carpet ? our Lord eat his meat out of a common dish, and made 
his followers sit upon the grass, and washed his disciples' feet. He 
took the water, which the Samaritan had drawn in an earthen 
pitcher, for he regarded the use, not the vain and superfluous state 
of things!" Clemens Alexandrinus, {An. 204.) Pcedag. lib. 2. c. 3* 
p. 160 & 161. 

1 " Human nature came to us from heaven pure and perfect ; 
but in process of time, ignorance, the passions, and evil examples, 
have corrupted it. All consists in restoring it to its primitive 
beauty ; and to be perfect, we must re-ascend to that point from 
which we have fallen . Obey heaven, and follow the orders of him 
who governs it. Love your neighbour as yourself. Let your rea- 
son, and not your senses, be the rule of your conduct ; for reason 
will teach you to think wisely, to speak prudently, and to behave 
yourself worthily upon all occasions." Confucius, (Jlour. An. 500 
B. C.) 

■"■ In all inquiries concerning what becomes us, it is of very 
great moment, to be constantly reflecting, how much man's nature 
excels that of beasts and inferior animals. These have no taste or 
relish for any thing but the pleasures of the body, towards which 
they are carried with a great eagerness ; whereas nothing is more 
agreeable, and nourishing as it were, to the mind of man, than 
learning and contemplation : hence he is always in search of 
novelty, and is delighted by an increase of knowledge. And if there 
is any one too much addicted to sensual enjoyments, unless he is 



Rule XVIII. Of the dignity of Man. 1 99 

small moment, we weigh them •, in this, which is of the greatest 
importance, shall we not, before we bind ourselves to the Devil, 
consider who it was that made us, what state and condition we 



transformed into a mere brute, (for some such there are, who are 
men in name and not in reality), yet shame will induce him to con- 
ceal his propensities thereto as much as possible ; and what is this 
but a plain indication, that they are unbecoming the dignity of a 
reasonable creature, and ought to be despised and rejected ?" 

*' And does not the consideration of the same dignity and excel- 
lence of our nature clearly inform us, how base and unworthy it is* 
to dissolve in luxury, softness and effeminacy ? and how noble and 
becoming it is, on the other hand, for a man to lead a life of fru- 
gality and temperance, of strictness and sobriety ? Cicero Offic. 
lib. I. c. 30. 

Bulstrode says, " Man was made in God's image, that he might 
live in his similitude." Essays, p. 10. 

<« The divine image, then, is to be found in the understanding 
and the will ; in the understanding which knows the truth, and in 
the will which loves it." x 

" The divine image is restored in human nature by the word of 
Christ enlightening the understanding, and the grace of Christ 
rectifying the will." 

" To stamp a man his own image, was the design of God in 
creating him ; to restore that image when lost, was the design of 
God in redeeming him. Could greater honor have been done to 
human nature ? Never may the guilt be ours of debasing our nature* 
and obliterating the image and superscription ; a species surely of 
treason against the majesty of heaven. Sloth will obscure the fair 
impression ; its attendants, ignorance and vice, will destroy it. — Let 
diligence therefore be appointed to watch over it, and to retouch 
from time to time the lines that are faded ; till the whole standing 
confessed in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, « men may 
glorify our Father 'which is in heaven/ (Matt. v. 16.) when they be- 
hold his resemblance upon earth — So shall we answer the ends of 
our creation and redemption." 

" Majestic in his form, man was ordained to trample upon 
earth, and aspire to heaven, which, without putting a force upon 
nature, he cannot but behold and regard ! ! ! " Home, Disc. 1 . 



200 The Christian's Manual. 

2 re in, with what immense price we were redeemed, and what 
happiness is proposed to us. (a) That man is so noble a crea- 
t ure, as to have this stupendous fabric of the world made by 
God for him ,{b) that if he *walk not after the fiesh, but after 
the spirit, (c) he is a fellow citizen with the saints, and of the 
household of God, (d) a son and heir of God, (e) a member of 
Christ, a member of the church ; (f) that he is the temple of 
God, (g) and his mind is God's image. On the contrary, sin 
is the very ruin of soul and body ; they return to their original 
beauty by innocence. Sin is the deadly poison of the most 
Venomous Serpent. When you have seriously pondered these, 
and the like considerations, ask yourself, if it is advisable, for 
a short moment's delight of sin, to fall from so great a height of 
grace and glory, into such a whirlpool of infamy and vilenets. 



RULE XIX. 

Tlie difference between serving God and the Devil 

Compare those opposite masters, God and the Devil ; one you 
make your enemy, and the other your tyrant, by sinning. By 
innocence you are admitted into the number of the friends of 
God, * and adopted unto the right and inheritance of Sons ; (k) 



1 Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. John 
xv. 14. 

(a) John xv. 9—15. 2 Cor. vii. 1. (b) Gen. i. 36. ii. 7. Ps. viii.4 — 9- 
(c) Rom. viii. 4. (d) Ephes. ii. 19. 

(e) Rom. viii. 14. Gal. iv. 7. Rom. ii.7. (/) Ephes. v. 30. 

(g) 1 Cor. vi. 16. (h) 1 John iii. 1. 3 John ih 



Rule XX. Differ e?U rewards of Virtue and Vice. 201 

but by sin you are made a servant and child of the Devil.(a) The 
first is the eternal fountain of the greatest good and happiness ; 
the latter is the parent of all vice and misery, (b) Observe the 
one's kindness, and the other's malice. With what benevolence 
Qod created, (c) with what mercy redeemed, and with what 
grace he has enriched you ? with what joy does he receive the 
penitent ? [d) Contrary to this, how long has the Devil envied 
and ensnared your soul's happiness ? (e) into what troubles has 
he not brought you ? and what else does he daily attempt, but 
to bring all mankind into the same pit of perdition with him- 
self ? Think in this manner : Shall I, regardless of my exalted 
birth, and of the great benefits conferred, ungratefully revolt 
from so high, so affectionate, so good a Father, simply for a 
worthless bait of imaginary pleasure, and enslave myself to the 
most wicked and cruel tyrant ? 



RULE XX. 

The different rexvarch of Virtue and Vice. 

The rewards offered are as different as the two commanders ; 
what more unlike than eternal life and death ? than to enjoy 
endless bliss in the society of celestial beings, (f) and to be 
tormented for ever with the damned, our hellish companions in 
misery ? He that doubts this is not a man, much less a Christian. 1 



1 The Son of Man shall send forth his Angels, and they shall 
gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do 
iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire : there shall he 
'mailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth 

(a) John vhi. 44. 1 John iii. 8. Rom. vi. 16. (b) Gen. iii. 

(c) Gen. i. 28. (d) Ezekiel xviii. SI, 32. Luke xv. 7. (e) Luke viii. 11. 

(f) Ps. xxxvii. 18. Isai.xxxv. 10. Matt, xxii, 30. 1 Cor, ii. 9. 



202 The Christian's Manual. 

Even in this life piety and impiety yield very distinct fruits, 
From the one is derived that secret satisfaction and true joy, 



as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Matt. xiii. 41 — 43. xxv. 
31—46. Luke xvi. 23. Isai. lvi. 24. 2 Thess. i. 8. Jude 15. 16. 

" Let no man impose upon himself with inconsiderate words, 
saying, though I am a sinner, yet I am a Christian, and I hope that 
title will be my shelter ; but hearken, sinner, all wicked men shall 
be collected, and in the great day of the divine vengeance in- 
differently thrown into the merciless and devouring flames." Basil* 
[An. 370.) Comment, on Isaiah, c. 2. p. 28. 

" How shall we be able to stand before him, whose countenance is 
as lightning, and before whom there goeth a consuming fire ? and 
yet stand we must, and give an account of all the various circum- 
stances and cases of our life ; then we must come to a reckoning 
concerning the good we have received, and the good which we our- 
selves have done : then it is that we must give an account of the 
improvement which we have made of all those wholesome instruc- 
tions and fatherly chastisements wherewith we have been corrected ; 
then will it be exacted of us, how we have entertained those good 
motions and suggestions, which the Divine Spirit hath put into our 
hearts ; how we have withstood the suggestions of Satan, and the 
temptations of the world, and our own carnal inclinations ; then 
shall we be examined, how we have employed all the faculties of 
our souls, and members of our bodies ; then shall we give an ac- 
count not only of all our wicked words and actions, but also of our 
impure thoughts and imaginations, which shall all be laid open to 
the sight of men and angels ; then must we give an account of all 
licentious speeches, prophane writings, and unsavoury jests, nay, of 
every idle word ; so strict a trial shall we then be put upon. 

" Lastly, of sins of omission and commission, of the time which we 
have spent in eating, drinking, sleeping, revelling/dancing, gam- 
ing, in haunting taverns, theatres, and houses of ill fame : then must 
we give an account of the spending of our youth, and of our season- 
ing of those tender years with prophaneness and licentiousness: and 
offering the first and best of our time unto the devil, which should 
be dedicated unto God and his service. 

" Then must we give an account of the employing of our man- 
hood, and whether that has been grounded and settled in piety and 



Rule XX. Different rewards of Virtue and Vice. 203 

that a man who has tasted, will not exchange for all the wealth 
and pleasure in the world, (a) From the other an innumerable 



devotion ; or passed over in resolved enjoyments of sensual and 
worldly pleasures. 

" Then also must we give an account of our demeanour in old age ; 
and whether or no, then drawing nearer the time of our departure 
out of this world, we have quietly and willingly resigned our souls 
into the hands of our God, as unto a faithful Creator. 

" The world has not been unfitly resembled to a stage or theatre, 
on which every man has his different part as art actor ; the one that 
of a prince, the other that of a poor man : now he that acts his part 
well, though it be but that of a peasant, gains as much applause, 
and deserves as great commendation, as that other that acts that of 
the most dignified personage. 

" So then it is that every man must give an account of his beha- 
viour in his particular calling. 

" 'Tis the hour wherein the mariner must give an account of the 
advantages, which have been put into his hand, of his being ex- 
traordinarily religious, by going down to the sea in ships, and seeing 
the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. (Ps.cvii. 21 — 24.) 

" 'Tis the hour in which the husbandman must give an account of 
the pious improvements, which he might have made by a continual 
observation of God's blessings springing out of the earth. 

" 'Tis the hour wherein the merchant and tradesman must give 
an account of the justness and honesty of their dealings. 

" 'Tis the hour wherein the soldier must give an account of his 
cruelty and rapine, of his insulting violence over the conquered 
enemy. * 

" 'Tis the hour wherein the griping usurer must himself pay the 
rigorous interest of his unjust acquisitions. 

" 'Tis the hour wherein the physician must give an account of his 
readiness to administer his skill to the poor and mean, as well as to 
the rich. 

(a) Ps. cxix. 165. Isai. xxvi. 3. Gal. vi. 16. 2 Cor. i. 12. Phil. iv. 7. 

* An old officer requested permission of the Emperor Charles V. t<» 
resign, observing, " It is highly requisite that there be some space foi 
serious thought between a soldier's life and death." 



204 The Christian's Manual. 

train of evils ; and what is most miserable, those racking painst 



" 'Tis the hour wherein the lawyer must give an account of his 
pleading the cause of the fatherless and widow ; of his obstructing 
of justice by an eloquent and mercenary tongue. 

" 'Tis the hour wherein the divine must give an account of his 
flock and of his doctrine ; and whether he himself hath lived as he 
taught others. 

" 'Tis the hour wherein the judges and magistrates must themr 
selves be judged concerning their partial administration of justice. 

" 'Tis the hour wherein kings and princes shall give an account to 
the king of kings, how they have governed themselves and their 
subjects ; and of their sacrificing men's lives to an ambitious desire 
of enlarging their territories. 

" 'Tis the hour wherein many poor and despised paupers shall be 
preferred to kings and princes. 

« 'Tis the hour, saith Hierome, wherein many dumb persons shall 
be made more happy than the fluent and eloquent ; and many 
ploughmen and shepherds shall be preferred before philosophers. 

« 'Tis the hour wherein we shall pass into endless and unspeakable 
felicity, into the sweet and glorious fellowship of saints and angels ; 
or else for ever be cast down into the horrid regions of woe and 
misery ; and seeing that one of these will be the end and certain 
portion of every man, let us not be solicitous for honors, for beauty, 
for riches, for strength, or the rest of those things, which we falsely 
call good, seeing that they shall not be able to deliver them in the 
day of the wrath of the Lord, (Ezekiel vii. 19.) and eternal ven- 
geance, nor in the least mitigate our then ensuing wretchedness ; 
but let us be contented with a mean and low fortune, to be despised 
and rejected of men, (Isai. liii. 3.) to be esteemed as unlearned, de- 
formed, ignoble, as fools or madmen, rather than worldly-wise or 
learned. Let us consider now what opinion we shall have- then of 
those things which are at present the object of our so passionate 
wishes and endeavours, and whether or no the acquisition and past 
enjoyments of them, will make amends for the sorrow and anguish 
which we shall then go to be for ever possessors of} let us therefore 
now, while we have time and space, break off our sins by righteous- 
ness, (Dan. iv. 27.) and not rest a moment longer in our present 
security and indifference ; but let us by our sighs and tears pene«- 



Rule XX. Different rewards of Virtue and Vice. 205 

and torments of a bad conscience, (a) * Whereas Christ has 
promised his followers spiritual joy, as a small pledge of eternal 
happiness, (b) 



trate heaven, and by our earnest and constant entreaties move the 
Judge to pity and compassion, to a willingness to pardon and pass 
by all our former miscarriages, and to give us again such a measure 
of his Grace, that by it, and the concurrence of our own earnest 
and uninterrupted resolutions, we may so live now as to avoid the 
great and only misery ; in comparison of which, all human miseries 
are easy and supportable : — the misery which I mean, is the effect 
pf the sentence made mention of by St. Matthew, — « Depart from 
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 
angels" xxv. 41. 

These are momentous truths ! — that they 'were wise, that they 
understood this, that they Would consider their latter end I Deut^ 
xxxii. 29. 

When St. Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judg- 
ment to come, the Pagan Felix trembled. Acts xxiv. 25. The hea- 
thens had but an imperfect idea of a future state, but they acknow^ 
ledged its existence. " It is very dangerous to neglect the soul. 
Were death the dissolution of the whole man, it would be a great 
advantage to the wicked after death to be free at once of their body, 
their soul, and their vices. But forasmuch as the soul is immortal, 
the only way to obtain salvation is to become good and wise : 
for the soul carries nothing with it but its good or bad actions, and 
its virtues or vices, which are the cause of its eternal happiness or 
misery." 

" All are tried and judged, both those that lived a holy and just 
life, and those who wallowed in injustice and impiety." 

" We ought to labor all our life-time to acquire virtue and 
wisdom, since we have so great a hope and so great a reward pro* 
posed to us." Plato in Phcedon. 

" All things may be shunned but a man's own heart ; a man 
cannot run from himself; a guilty conscience will not forsake him 
wherever he goes." Isidore, (died A. D. 675.) 

(c) Isai. lvii. 20. Job vVi. 13. (b) John xiv. V ', 



206 The Christian's Manual. 

RULE XXI. 

Of the shortness of Life, 

X hink how fleeting the present life is, how death surrounds 
us on every side. Since no one is certain of a moment's 
breath, how dangerous is it to continue day after day in that 
state, wherein if death seizes you, you perish to all eternity ? * 



1 Go to now, ye that say, to-day or to-morrow we will go into such 
a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain : 
whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your 
life ? It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then 
vanisheth away. James iv. 13. 14. Our days on the earth are as a 
shadow, and there is none abiding. 1 Chron. xxix. 15. 

We are but ephemera, in comparison with eternity ! 

" Who is there, although in the flower of youth, so infatuated as' 
to promise himself one day's existence I" 

" We complain of the shortness of life, but do not employ it well." 

Erasmus, in the " Old Man's Colloquy ," observes, " I never lay 
my head upon my pillow at night, till I have by repentance recon- 
ciled myself to God for the transgressions of the day past." 

And Tertullian, " If you are backward in the thoughts of re- 
pentance, be forward in the thoughts of hell." (died An. 202.) 

" Upon our remov.tl hence there will be no place for repentance, 
nor any possibility of atoning for our sins by penitential satisfac- 
tions. Here, or no where, must be laid the foundation of eternal 
life : here, or no where, must our worship of the true God, and the 
effects of our believing on him, secure us an interest in the kingdom 
of heaven." Cyprian ad Demetr. s. 16. (A. D. 253.) 

" tf we estimate worldly things by the shortness of their dura- 
tion, they must be very despicable, which have not so much as one 
hour certain* And we easily part from things for which we have 
little value." 



Rule XXII. Of the danger of final Impenitence. . 207 

RULE XXII. 

Of the danger of final Impenitence. 

Of all evils the most horrible is final impenitence ; (a) con- 
sider how few have truly repented of their sins. A relapse into 
wickedness is very dangerous ; and to recover one's ground, is 
most difficult. l Take warning by the goat in iEsop's Fables, 

" Every one's best way is, carefully to examine his conscience 
before he goes to sleep ; and if he find himself guilty of any fault 
that day, to smite himself on the breast, and with tears implore 
pardon of God ; and having prayed for the divine assistance, to 
resolve to lead a new life. Neither can any one excuse himself by 
saying he has too much business, and is not at leisure; a quarter of 
an hour is sufficient for this important affair : it would not occupy 
much time to say with an unfeigned heart, God be merciful to me a 
sinner" (Luke xviii. 13.) Erasmus in " Preparation for death." 

It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, 
Heb. ix. 27. Eccles. ix. 10. 

* When the righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, 
and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them ; for his iniquity that he 
hath done shall he die. Ezekiel xviii. 26. Heb. iii. 12 — 14-. vi. 4—6. 
xii. 15—17. 

" To apostates, who totally renounce this baptism of regenera- 
tion, the effect and benefit of it is made void ; the one sacrifice of 
Christ being rejected by them, and despised, « there remaineth no 
more sacrifice for sins.*" Heb. x. 26. 

" In those who do not totally apostatize from religion, but yet 
contrary to their profession, fall into any great or habitual vice, 
their sins, after the knowledge of the truth, must of necessity be 
more inexcusable; their hearts more hardened; their repentance 
more difficult ; their hopes more broken ; they are like < the sow 
that was washed* turning again ' to her wallowing in the mire* " 
(2 Peter ii. 20—22.) Clarke, Expos, of the Catech. p. 132. 

(a) Rom. ii. 3—9. 



208 The Christian's Manual. 

and before you descend into the well of vice, reflect it is not 
easy to return.- * 



Special Rules against some sins, and first, against 
Fornication. 



* 



Having given directions against sin in general, we come to 
deliver some rules against particular crimes. Fornication is an 
evil that early attacks us, and as it is the most importunate, so 
it draws more into perdition than any other. When you are 
prompted thereto, instantly run to these arms to overcome it. 
Consider how vile and unbecoming that pleasure must be, which 
levels man, the divine image, with the meanest beasts, or rather 
which degrades us below them : we, who were created for the 
society of Angels, and to be made partakers of the Divinity, (a) 
Think how noble the soul of man is, how holy a thing is his 
body, (b) What rashness, therefore, for the sake of so base a 
delight, to dishonor both soul and body ; and profane that tem- 
ple, which Christ has consecrated to himself with his blood, ! (c) 
Consider what a train of evils this flattering sin brings ; you 
lose your character ; ruin your fortune ; procure distempers 5 
blast the flower of your youth ; disgracefully accelerate old age 5 
relax the vigor of your mind ; blunt the edge of your under- 
standing ; and assume as it were the nature of a beast : you are 
called off at once from all liberal pursuits ;• and be your genius 



1 Habitual sin destroys every grand and liberal feeling. Can the 
Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? then may ye also 
do good, that are accustomed to do evil. Jerem. xiii. 23. 

(«) Rom. xfli. 13. (b) 1 Peter iv. 1—7. iThes. iv. 3—5. 

(c) lCcr. vi. 15—20. hi. 16, 17. 



First Special Rule : against Fornication. 209 

ever so great, it is plunged wholly in the mire, so that you think 
of nothing but what is low ; having renounced the use of your 
reason, which is the transcendent property of man, and rendered 
your youth profligate and infamous, your old age odious and 
wretched. . 

Reflect how honorable and animating, purity of body 
and mind is ; that it also makes us most acceptable to God, and 
worthy to receive the Holy Ghost. Set before your eyes the 
Indecorum there is in vexing and tormenting yourself, in weep- 
ing, flattering, and becoming a degraded supplicant to a mer- 
cenary woman. To be at your mistress's beck, to endure her 
insolent sway, to expostulate, quarrel, and then be reconciled ; 
and in short, to suffer yourself to be laughed at, and plundered, 
by a prostitute ; what man would submit to this ? where is your 
honor ? where that god-like and generous mind made for the 
highest purposes ? Fornication has not the least association with 
any virtue, but is always accompanied with many other enor- 
mous sins. It is very wicked to disobey one's parents, to dis- 
regard one's friends, to waste our estate, and to defraud ; to be 
guilty of perjury, drunkenness, theft, to quarrel, to commit 
murder, and to blaspheme ; all these, and other crimes, you are 
likely to be dragged into, when willingly enslaved by passion. (a) 
Observe that your days are as a shadow that jpasseth away, (b) 
Call to mind the companions of your wanton deeds, that death 
suddenly snatched away j take warning by their examples. 
Think how they lived in gallantry, but died in misery, (c) Re- 
member the day of judgment, and the thunder of that terrible 
sentence, that dooms the wicked to everlasting fire -, and be 
assured, that your short-lived enjoyments will bring endless 
torments, (d) Consider what an exchange you make, when for 
a mean gratification, you give a much higher, even in this life ; 
and not only relinquish future everlasting bliss, but incur un- 
ceasing misery. 



(a) Prov. xxiii. 27 — 33. xxv. 23. (b) Ps. cxliv. 4. 

(c) 1 Peter ii. 11. (d) l Cor. vi.9, 10. Rom. viii. 13. Gal. v. 19. 21, 

Ch. Ma. O 



210 - The Christian's Manual. 

What unmerited kindness has Christ heaped upon you ', in 
return (although no return can be equivalent,) he expects 
nothing more than that you would abstain from pernicious 
enjoyments, and fix your affections upon the sovereign good.(a) 
Compare a virtuous love, and a vicious desire. When inclined 
to fornication, or any other sin, remember you are in God's pre- 
sence, before whose eyes all things are naked and open, (b) 
And will you dare to commit a thing so base, that you would 
be ashamed of before men, in the sight of God himself and the 
heavenly Host abhorring you ? Though one had the eyes of a 
Lynx or an Eagle, they would not enable him to see more clearly 
in the fairest light, what another man is doing, than God beholds 
all things, even what is brooding in the folds and lurking places 
of your heart. Consider, that when you indulge your lust, 
passion will so fascinate and inebriate you, that you will proceed 
from one act of sin to another, till you become blind and re- 
probate, and being callous in vice, will be unable to forsake your 
sinful enjoyments, (c) 

Are you married •, think how honorable the bed undefiled \$.(d) 
But in every state, it is scandalous to be a slave to lust. Let 
him that is young be careful, lest he withers the flower of life, 
which blossoms no more. Let him not waste in riot those best 
and golden years, which fly most swiftly, and never return. 
Be not led away by the impetuosity of youth, to commit a 
crime, that may gall your life with the remembrance of guilt, 
and those sharp stings of remorse, which sinful enjoyment in- 
variably leaves. Of all prodigies, the greatest is lewdness in 
old age. O foolish and forgetful dotard, behold thyself in a 
glass, contemplate thy snowy locks, thy furrowed brow, and 
cadaverous face ; and seeing thyself have one foot in the grave, 
employ thy mind on thoughts more suitable to thy condition. 



(a) Titus ii. 11—14. 2 Cor. vii. 1. (b) Heb. iv. 13. 

(c) Ezekiel xi. 21. Jer. viii. 6—13. Rom. i. 28—32. (d) Heb. xiii. 4. 



First Special Rule : against Fornication, 211 



A recapitulation of the Remedies against 
Fornication. 



1 he most powerful means to guard against this sin, are these ; 
first, a careful avoiding of all enticements. Although this 
precept should also be observed in every other crime, yet this 
is a particular syren, which is especially to be escaped by dis- 
tant flight. The consideration of death and future judgment. 
Converse with none but chaste and virtuous people ; and avoid 
the company of the corrupt and dissolute, as you would the 
plague, (a) Fly luxurious idleness, diligently apply to the 
meditation of heavenly things, and other virtuous studies, (b) 
Above all, dedicate yourself to the reading of God's word ; (c) 
and pray fervently. l 



1 Drink no more of the poisonous cup of sin ; when presented, 
dash it upon the Rock of Christ. 



(a) 1 Cor. v. 9— J3. Ephes. v. 7—12. 
(6) Mark vii. 20—22. 2 Peter iii. 17, 18. 
(c) Ps. cxix. 1—6. 133. 148. 



212 The Christian's Manual. 

RULE II. 

Against Avarice. 

If you are inclined to avarice, remember the dignity of your 
nature. How sordid and narrow therefore is it, not to use, but 
to dote upon paltry inanimate materials ? ' The heathen philo- 
sophers despised money, and shall you that profess yourself a 
disciple of Christ, admire wealth ; which it is truly noble to 
despise ? Nominal christians most wilfully impose upon them- 
selves, and exclaim that necessity obliges them to obtain riches, 
without which there is no living, nor can they live conveniently 
with a little, but great riches will purchase every accommoda- 
tion. They will provide for children, 2 assist friends, prevent 

1 " Avarice is an inordinate love and vehement desire of riches. 
In short, all manner of anxiety and thought with relation to riches, 
savours strongly of covetousness : they are not worth any earnest 
attention of the mind. 

" It is a canker or gangrene in the soul, that spreads and mor- 
tifies, and with its venom corrodes and quite consumes our natural 
affections, and fills us with noxious and virulent humours in their 
stead. All are sacrificed to this darling, this adored wealth. 

" It is a mean, sordid passion, the disease of fools and earth- 
worms ; who esteem riches as the supreme good, and dread poverty : 
they cannot content themselves with a bare competency : they 
measure their riches by the bags and weights of bankers and gold- 
smiths ; whereas nature teaches us to make a different judgment, 
and directs us to the standard of our own just occasions. The co- 
vetous man is good to nobody ; but worst of all to himself." 

Clemens Alexandrinus (A.D. 196,) observed, "Such as adorn 
themselves with gold, and think themselves better thereby, are 
slaves to gold, and not lords of it, as all that have it ought to be. 
It is an occasion of all mischief and wickedness. Gold to many 
is much dearer than their faith and honesty ; and the love of it 
makes many so covetous as if they were to live here for ever." 

2 When the excellent Phocion was urged to provide for his chil- 
dren, by amassing wealth, he answered, "No: if they follow my 
example, that which has served me will be sufficient for them : if 
they do not, I will not encourage their luxury, by providing super- 
fluities to support it." 



Second Special Rule : against Avarice. 21 3 

contempt, and even increase reputation. But to answer both 
these objections, first because they pretend necessity as a cloak 
for their covetousness, I would refer them to the parable of the 
fowls of the air and lilies in the gospel. ( a } I would remind 
them, that Christ forbids his disciples to provide either purse or 
scrip for their journey, (b) He commands us, omitting these 
cares, to seek first the kingdom of God; (c) and promises, that 
all the necessaries of life shall be added unto us. "When did any 
want bread, that were sincerely pious ? (d) How little is it, 
that nature requires ? (e) But you measure necessity not by the 
demands of nature, but by the cravings of vitiated appetite. The 
crime is not in possessing riches, but in setting our hearts upon 
them. If you have abundance, be a good steward thereof : " 
if it be taken from you, do not repine, (f) 2 He that makes it 
the main purpose of life to gain or hoard money, is not a 
christian. Let us examine those conveniences which riches are 
said to procure. Every thing but virtue is without the man 5 
nothing is so exterior to him as money, nothing brings him so 
little solid advantage. For were you possessed of all the gold 
and jewels, would you be better, wiser, or more learned? 
But you will say, wealth confers honor ; of what kind ? why, 
that false honor which none but fools value, whom it is almost 
a reproach to have pleased. To be commended by the praise- 
worthy is true honor, as it is the highest to be acceptable to 
Christ : and respect is the reward of virtue, not of wealth. 
The common people give place to and reverence you j you sim- 

1 " That which a man must part with, it is wisdom to distribute 
so that God may everlastingly reward him." " There is no excuse 
for hardheartedness, for where can the rich man look, but he may 
behold objects of charity ?" Gregory Nyssen. (An. D. 480.) 

* Like St. Paul, be able to say, " I have learned in whatsoever 
state lam, therewith to be content." Phil. iv. II. And with Job, 
" The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away : blessed be the name 
of the Lord." Job. i. 21. And thus attain a freedom from solicitude. 

(a) Matt. vi. 26—31. (b) Mark vi. 7—9. 

(c) Matt. vi. 31-34. (d) Ps. xxxiv. 9, 10. Ileb. xiii.5. 

(e) lTim. vi. 5-10. (/) job i. 21. Phil. iv. 11. 



214 The Christian's Manual. 

pleton, it is your wealth they admire, not you. 1 Look inter 
your breast, and consider the wretched poverty of your soul ; 
which it the vulgar discerned, they would commiserate you. 
But fortune procures friends ; false ones, who are for their ad- 
vantage, not yours. And in this respect, the rich man is the 
most unhappy,, because it is difficult to distinguish his friends. 
For one secretly hates him, because he is covetous : another 
envies him for being more opulent than himself : a third flatters, 
that he may afterwards make a prey of him : others wish him 
soon under ground ; no one is so honest as to tell him truth : he 
should look upon them as vultures, attracted by the scent of the 
carcass, or as flies buzzing about him for their own benefit. 
Whatever advantages wealth may seem to confer, they are vain 
and imaginary; but it brings many substantial evils, as it takes 
away many real blessings. 

If we weigh the loss and gain, we shall find the latter more 
than counterbalanced by the former ; for what great labor is ne- 
cessary to procure it ? (a) With what peril and solicitude is it 
kept ? (b) And with what vexation and grief is it lost ? Riches 
are thorns, as their deceitfulness chokes the word of God ; (c) and 
they destroy that peace of mind, which is man's chief blessing, 
by innumerable fears and cares. Neither is the thirst of money 
to be appeased; it increases, (d) and they that will be rich fall 
into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful 
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition : for the 
love of money is the root of all evil, (e) Do not flatter yourself 
that you may easily be rich and religious/ Remember it is 

1 " Thou boasteth of thy wealth, honor, strength, beauty, &c. 
consider what thou art by sin, and shall be in the grave, and thy 
plumes will fall ; for every proud man forgets himself." Prosper, 
(died An. D. ±66.) 

2 " As a boat overladen sinks, so, much wealth drowns us in 
perdition" Chrysosiom. (An. D. 400.) 

" It is great labor to live in prosperity; as too much grain 
weighs down the corn, so too much felicity casts us down." Ber- 
nard, (died An. D. 1153.) 

(a) Ps. xxxix. 6. (b) Eccles.-ii. 22, 23. iv. 6. (c) Matt. xiii. 3— 23. 
( d) Eccles. v. 10— ) 2. (e) 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10. 



Third Special Rule : against Ambition. 215 

easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for 
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, [a] The man 
that loves money, hates the very name of virtue. Among the 
vices, avarice is termed idolatry by St. Paul, (b) and is the most 
antichrjstian, for ye cannot serve God and Mammon, (c) 

A summary of the precautions against Avarice. 

You will cease to dote on money, if you carefully weigh real 
advantages against false, and compare imaginary benefits with 
substantial evils. If you learn to contemplate and love the sove- 
reign good, which alone can fill the mind of a christian, it being 
more noble and capacious than to be satisfied with all this de- 
ceitful world can give, (d) If you frequently set before your 
eyes the naked condition in which you came into the world, 
and in which you must, leave it ■ (e) If you always reflect upon 
the rich fool, to whom God said, This night thy soul shall be 
required of thee ; then whose shall those things be that thou hast 
provided? (f) Lastly, if you turn your eyes from the depraved 
manners of the generality, and fix them on the poverty of the 
blessed Virgin, the Apostles, the Martyrs, and especially of 
Christ your Head, (g) and are mindful of that woe which is de- 
nounced against them that are rich, (h) 



RULE III. 

Against Ambition. 

Lest ambition enchant you, fortify your mind with these admo- 
nitions. " Be convinced, that true honor is the reward of virtue 

1 " Ambition is a gilded misery, a poison, plague — the engineer 
of deceit, the mother of hypocrisy, the parent of envy, the origin of 

(a) Mark x. 24, 25. (b) Ephes. v. 5. Col. iii. 5. (<) Matt. vi. 24. 
{<£) Luke xii. 15. (e) Eccles. v. 15. (/) Luke xii. 20. 

(g) 2 Cor. viii. 9. (h) Luke vi. 24. Isai. v. 8. James v. 1—5. 



216 The Christian's Manual. 

only. 1 The honor which a christian ought to aim at, should be 
the praise, not of men, but of God. (a) Now the respect which 
is paid by bad men on a false account, is not honor, but disgrace. 
If for an indifferent thing, such as beauty, strength, wealth, or 
descent, it is not true honor. For no one deserves honor for 
that which deserves not praise. If a man is applauded for his 
good deeds, that is true honor ; but if he be good, he will not 
covet it, being satisfied with the approbation of his conscience. 
See the folly of those honors, which are so greedily sought by the 
multitude. For by whom are they bestowed ? but those that do 
not discriminate right and wrong. And for what ? generally for 
that which is indifferent, .sometimes for what is disgraceful. 
And upon whom ? but the most unworthy. He that thus ho- 
nors another, does it either from ignorance, fear, or interest. 
Is it not folly to value yourself upon the opinion of men, who, 
when they please, can take this very character they have given ? 
Nothing can be more silly than to delight in such honors, or re- 
gret their loss. 

Think of the happy tranquillity of a private life, free from all 
the noise of pomp and pageantry, and the inconveniences attend- 
ing high stations, which are perplexed with cares, and full of 
anxiety, peril and trouble. * How difficult not to forget one's 
self in prosperity ? (b) How hard to stand in slippery places ? 
How severe is a fall from an eminence ? Let Christ's example 



vice, the moth of holiness, the blinder of hearts, turning medicines 
into maladies, and remedies into diseases." Bernard. 

1 " True honor is the concurrent praise of good men; the incor- 
rupt approbation of those who form a correct judgment of eminent 
virtue : it is the echo of virtue." Cic. Tusc. I. iii. s. ii. 
1 " Why all this toil for triumphs of an hour ? 
What, tho' we wade in wealth or soar in fame. 
Earth's highest station ends in « here he lies ;' 
And « dust to dust,' concludes her noblest song." 

Young. N. iv. 

(a) John v. 44. 

(6) 2 Chron. xxvi. 16. Isai. x. 12—16. Dan. v. 20. Gal. v. 26. 



Fourth Special Rule: against Pride. 217 

be ever present with you : For who in the eyes of the world 
could be more mean, despised, and dishonored ? (a) Yet how did 
he refuse the honors that were offered him ? (b) What contempt 
he expressed of them, by sitting on an ass ! (c) But he whom 
the world despised, his father glorified ! {d) seek your glory and 
salvation in Jesus Christ — for if God rejects you, what will 
worldly honors avail ? 



RULE IV. 

Against Pride. 



The knowledge of yourself is the best guard against pride, (e) 
Upon what do you esteem yourself ? Remember how naked, 
destitute and miserable you were, when you crawled into 
this world. How many diseases and pains your frail body is 
liable to. How little a thing will dispatch this proud Philistine, 
that struts and swells with undaunted spirit. There is not a 
more certain proof of a man's folly, or a more desperate kind, 
than being highly pleased with himself. If it delights you to 
see another submitting to you, reflect there is one greater and 
more powerful over you, God, who humbleth the lofty, (f) and 
spared not an angel that grew proud, (g) Recollect, not so much 
what you have, as what you are deficient in ; forgetting those 
things 'which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things 



(a) Luke ii. 7. (b) John v. 41. (c) Matt. xxi. 5. 

(d) Phil, ii.5— 9. (e) Isai. v. 21. (/) James iv. 6. 1 Peter v. 5. 

(g) Isai. xiv. 12. 2 Pete* ii. 4. Jude 6. 



218 The Christian's Manual. 

which are before, (a) Make your defects a ballast against the 
strong gale of pride. As it is sinful before God, (b) so, in the 
eyes of men, nothing is more detested and laughed at than arro- 
gance; whereas modesty gains the good will of heaven and the 
friendship of men. 1 There are two considerations that will cure 
this evil; the one is, to reflect upon what you are in yourself, 
namely, corruption in your birth, a bubble through life, and 
food for worms after death ;* the other is to remember what 
Christ was made for your sake. 

1 " A humble man is like a good tree, the more full of fruit 
the branches are, the lower they bend." Alexander Hales, (died 
An.D. 1270.) 

a Gregorius Nyssenus (An. D. 380.) thus powerfully reasons 
against pride, " Dost thou not blush, thou statue of earth, who art 
shortly to be crumbled into dust, who, bubble-like, containeth 
within thee a short-lived humour ; dost thou not blush, to swell 
with pride and arrogance, and to have thy mind stuffed with vain 
idle thoughts ?" 

" Let me a little as in a glass show thee thine own face, who, 
and what thou art." 

" Hast thou not seen in a public charnel house the unveiled 
mysteries of human nature ; bones rudely thrown upon heaps ; 
naked skulls, with hollow eye holes, yielding a dreadful and de- 
formed spectacle ; hast thou not beheld their grinning mouths, and 
ghastly looks, and their limbs carelessly scattered ? 

" If thou hast beheld such sights as these ; in them thou hast 
seen thyself. Where then will be the signs of thy present beauty ; 
that good complexion that adorns thy cheeks, and the color of thy 
lips; that frightful majesty, and supercilious loftiness, that once re- 
sided in thine eyes ; or the nose that once beautifully graced thy 
cheeks ? Where are the locks that were wont to reach thy shoul- 
ders, the curls that used to adorn thy temples ? What are become 
of those arms that used to draw the bow ; those legs that used to 
bestride the horse ? Where is the purple, the silken garment ; the 
long robe j the belt ; the spurs ; the horse ; the race ; the noise 
and prancings, and all the rest of those things that now add fuel to 
thy pride ? Tell me where then will those things be, on account 

(a) Phil. iii. 13, 14. (b) Prov. xvi. 5. 



Fifth Special Rule: against Anger and Revenge. 219 

RULE V. 

Against Anger and Revenge. 

When you are goaded by revenge, remember that anger is far 
from being courage, which it seems to resemble. Nothing is 
so weak, rash, and ungenerous, as the love of revenge : ? You 
would assume the appearance of bravery, by allowing no injury 
to pass unrequited ; but in reality you betray a childish and 
unworthy humour. {<>) How much more generous is it, to de- 
spise than imitate another's folly? Revenge, though you have 
suffered a loss, will not repair, but rather increase it. For when 
will there be an end of reprisals, if each party cannot be satisfied 
without a retaliation ? New enemies will arise on both sides j 
your sorrow will be aggravated. Whereas by gentleness and 
patience, (6) sometimes your enemy is reformed and changed 
into a friend. 

A christian cannot be hurt but by himself; and an injury 

whereof thou dost now so much boast and bear up thyself? Was 
there ever any dream so fond and inconstant ; any thing more 
fantastic that appeared to a man asleep ? What shadow was ever so 
thin, so incapable of being grasped, as this dream of youth, which 
at once appears and immediately vanishes ? " De Beatitudinib. Orat. 
1. Tom. I p. 768. 

1 " It is a very troublesome and restless passion ; full of heat, 
smart and sting; it boils and bubbles in the breast; and gnaws the 
heart like a viper ; torments the persons infected ; disturbs their 
enjoyments; breaks the peace and comfort of their days, and the 
sleep of their nights." 

" Let us give a fresh turn to our passion, and change hatred into 
piety ; let us take pains to make the persons who have tempted us 
to hate them, worthy of our love and esteem. Thus Lycurgus is 
said to have dealt with a man that put out his eye : instead of pro- 
secuting so sensible an injury, he took another course of punishing 
him, which was by his severe remonstrances and good instruc- 
tions, to render him a virtuous, modest and peaceable person ever 
after." 

(a) Matt. v. 44—46. (b) Prov. jor. la. 



220 The Christian's Manual* 

only reverts on the head of the offender. * When any man 
has affronted you, reflect how often and greatly you have sinned 
against God, and on how many accounts you are indebted to 
him : For so much as you forgive your debtor, God is ready to 
forgive you. a (a) The true way to be reconciled to God, is to 
be first reconciled to your brother, (b) Pardon your neighbour 
a small fault (and such are all committed by one man against 
another) that Christ may pardon your heinous and manifold sins. 
It is hard, you say, to bridle anger: did not Christ suffer much 
severer hardships for you ? (c) He laid down his life, even for his 
enemies ! (d) With what meekness did he bear affronts, impri- 
sonment, stripes, and the most ignominious death ! Why boast 
him to be your head, if you are not of his body ? You can 
never be a member of Christ, unless you follow his example. 
Do you say your brother does not deserve to be forgiven : are 
not you less worthy to be forgiven by God ? Would you find 
mercy yourself, and be rigorous to your brother? (e) Is there 
any thing extraordinary in one sinner's pardoning another, after 
Christ has vouchsafed to pray unto his Father for his crucifiers ? 
(f) Is there any difficulty in not revenging yourself upon a 
brother, whom you are bound to love : (g) in not returning an 
injury, where you ought to do a kindness ? But by patiently 

1 It is not the offence that hurts us, but our opinion of it ; re- 
move the opinion, and the offence vanishes. 

« A clear conscience should not regard slanderous speeches, nor 
think that they have more power to condemn, than conscience has 
to acquit." Ambrose (died An. D. 397.) ■ 

" He best preserves himself from anger, that remembers, God 
looks on him." 

a The heathens acknowledged this virtue of forgiveness. " A 
true demonstration of a philosophic disposition consists, not in any 
one being kind to his friends ; but when he is injured, in being easily 
entreated and merciful towards those who have offended him." 
Dion. 

(a) Matt. vi. 14, 15. 

lb) Matt. v. 23, 24. Mark xi. 25, 26. Luke xvii. 3, 4. 
(c) 1 Peter ii. 20—24. {d) John x. 10—15. 

(e) James ii. 13. (/) Luke xxiii. 34. 

(g) 1 John iii, 1G. 



Fifth Special Rule : against Anger and Bevenge. 221 

enduring one injury, you reply, I invite another •, my enemy 
will repeat it, if he does not smart for this. If you cannot 
avoid such thing, it is better to let him perish alone, than with 
you, Rather think him who imagines he has hurt you, an ob- 
ject of compassion than of punishment. Would you be justly 
angry, be angry with the crime, not with the man. (a) The 
more powerful this vice is with you, be so much the more care- 
ful to arm against it, and resolve never to say or do any thing in 
a passion. Do not trust yourself, when you are moved. 1 Sus- 
pect all that arises during those impetuous commotions. Remem- 
ber there is no other difference between an angry man and a 
lunatic, than between a short and continued madness. Consider 
how many things you have said and done in a passion, which 
you heartily wish undone. Whenever your blood is moved, 
though you do not then conquer your indignation, be so far your 
own master, as to know that you are not right : (b) even this recol- 
lection is a degree of sobriety. Think thus, I am at present so 
disposed, but by and by I shall be quite of another mind : why 
then should I say that in anger, which, when I shall be cool, I can- 
not recall ? Why should I do that in my rage, which, when I am 
come to myself, I shall bewail ? (c) Why shall not reason, reli- 
gion, and obedience to Christ, have that effect upon me, which 
time will quickly have ? (d) No man is so splenetic, but he may 
easily command himself thus far. But it is our duty to strengthen 
our mind to that degree, by reason, religion, instruction and use, 
as never to be moved; and we shall prove ourselves christians 



1 " A wise man advised Augustus never to let his anger loose 
till he had repeated the letters of the alphabet ; and some christians 
have given the same counsel in effect, but better in the diversion 
they prescribe ; when they direct us to say over the Lord's Prayer, 
before we give any vent to the boiling passion ! 

" All we say and do in passion should be greatly suspected and 
carefully watched, and therefore it is but fit we halt. Nothing 
is lawful for you while you are angry. Why ? because then you 
wish to have all things lawful." 

(a) Gal. vi. 1, 2. (6) Prov. xvii. 14. 

(() Prov. xix. 11. (d) Prov. xx. 3. ♦James iii. 13—18. 



E8B The Christian's Manual, 

when we are displeased with the vice only, and repay reproaches 
with kindness. Never to be angry, and to overcome evil with 
good, is the most godlike, and therefore, most amiable, (a) To 
restrain anger, is the part of a man ; to indulge our gall, is the 
property of a tyger. If you would know how much below the 
dignity of man it is to give way to wrath, observe the counte- 
nance of one angry, when you are cool-, or look into the glass 
when you are moved ; at such a time when your eyes glare, 
your face is distorted, your voice roars, or the powerof utterance 
is choked, your lips foam, your limbs shake, and your gestures 
are various, who can esteem you to be a man ? 

You see, brethren, how large a field is open to discourse in 
like manner upon the several other sins. But I shall conclude 
this dissertation, leaving the rest to your sagacity and prudence. 
For as it was not my design, so it would be tedious to declaim 
against, and dissuade from, each vice in particular, as well as 
exhort to the contrary virtue. All I wish is, to point out the 
art and discipline requisite in this warfare •, that you may the 
better strengthen yourself against the prevailing sins of life. 
Therefore what I have done in one or two instances, you ought 
to do in others •, and more especially in those cases where you 
know you are most liable to sin. Against these you should 
establish the firmest resolutions, and renew them, lest, by disuse, 
they lose their authority : especially if evil-speaking, 1 obscene 



1 Speak evil of no man, Titus iii. 2. 

Barrow, discoursing upon this text, says, " The transgression of 
this duty is grown so prevalent, that evil speaking is almost as 
common as speaking, ordinary conversation extremely abounding 
therewith." 

" The object of this duty is very large, indeed universal and un- 
limited : that we must forbear reproach not only against pious and 
virtuous persons ; against persons of our own judgment or party ; 
against those who never did harm or offend us ; against our rela- 
tions, our friends, our benefactors ; in respect to whom there is no 
ground or temptation of ill- speaking ; but even against the most 

(a) Rom. xii. 19-21. 1 Cor. iv. 12. 13. 



Against Different Sins, 223 

talking, 1 envy,* or gluttony, 3 are your predominant sins. For 
these are great enemies of the Christian warriors, whose assaults 



unworthy and wicked persons ; against those who differ most in 
opinion and practice from us ; against those who never did oblige 
us, yea those that have most disobliged us ; even against our most 
bitter and spiteful enemies. There is no exception or excuse to be 
admitted from the quality, state, relation, or demeanour of men ; 
the duty doth extend to all men : for,' speak evil of no man." Vide 
Prov. x, 18. Ps. xxxiv. 12. 13. Matt. v. 22. Rom.xii. 14. 1 Cor. 
vi. 10. Ephes. iv. 31. James i. 26. iv. 11. 1 Peter, iii. 10. 

" It is a grievous perverting the design of speech, to use it to 
the defaming and disquieting our neighbour. It was given us as 
an instrument of beneficial commerce, and delectable conversation ; 
that with it we might assist and advise, might cheer and comfort, 
one another : we therefore in employing it to the disgrace, vexa- 
tion, damage or prejudice in any kind, of our neighbour, do foully 
abuse it ; and so doing, render ourselves indeed worse than dumb 
beasts ; for better far it were that we could say nothing, than that 
we should speak ill." 

1 Neither Jilthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not 
convenient. Ephes. v. 4. 

Barrow upon this text remarks, " It is wit that wageth the war 
against reason, against virtue, against religion : wit alone it is that 
perverteth so many, and so greatly corrupteth the world." 

" Such jesting, which doth not season wholesome or harmless 
discourse, but giveth a haut gout to putrid and poisonous stuff, gra- 
tifying distempered palates and corrupt stomachs, is, indeed, odious 
and despicable folly." 

" He discovereth a great sterility of good invention, who cannot 
in all the wide field of things, find better subjects of discourse ; who 
knows not how to be ingenious within reasonable compass, but to 
pick up a sorry conceit is forced to make excursions beyond the 
bounds of honesty and decency." 

" There is indeed no more certain sign of a mind utterly de- 
bauched from piety and virtue, than obscene discourse." Vide 
Ephes. iv. 29. Phil. i. 27. 1 Peter i. 15. 

2 Charity envieth not. 1 Cor. xiii. 4. 1 Peter, ii. 1 . 



224- The Christian's Manual. 

he should be fortified against by prayer, and the sacred rules of 
Scripture. 



«< The laws of Humanity and Christianity, much more oblige us 
to desire and delight in one another's happiness ; and the exer- 
cise of this virtue would be a very considerable addition to our 
own." 

Cyprian says, " From envy the first quarrel which ever was in 
the world commenced between the two brothers, and murder was 
the consequence ; unrighteous Cain envied righteous Abel, [Gen. iv. 
8.) and the good man fell a sacrifice to the wicked one, through the 
suggestions of this mischievous passion ; the rage of which had 
such a fatal issue, and finished so black a scene of villainy, that nei- 
ther the endearments of so near a relation, nor the heinousness of 
such a horrid fact, nor the fear of God, nor the sure vengeance 
which could not but follow upon such an atrocious sin, had any 
influence towards preventing the foul attempt." Of Emulation and 
Envy, s. 3. (A.D. 256.) 

"The envious man has as many tortures, as the envied has 
praises ; it is the justice of envy to kill and torment the envious." 
Prosper. 

3 Drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Cor. vi. 10. 
~For many walk, of whom 1 have told you often, and note tell you even 
weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ : whose end 
is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, 
who mind earthly things. Phil. iii. 18. 19. Isai. v. 11. 12. 22. 
Ephes. v. 18. 

*' Many, like beasts, live only that they may eat, but we Christians 
are commanded to eat that we may live ; food and gratification are 
not the end for which we live, our residence here being in order to 
an incorruptible life ; and therefore our nourishment ought to be 
light and simple, and subservient to the design thereof, health and 
strength." Clemens Alexandrinus Pcedag. L 20. c. 1. p. 139. 
(An. 20k.) 

" As the clouds obscure heaven, so intemperate banqueting, the 
mind ; as the violence of the winds and waves sink the ship, so 
drunkenness and gluttony, our souls and bodies in the depth of 
hell." Peter Chrysologus. (A. D. 440.) 



Against Different Sins. 225 

Brotherly love incited me to aid your pious purpose* All 
that I advise is, that you do not place religion in human ordi- 
nances, tenets, ceremonies, or any visible things, but in « the 
keeping of the commandments of God." (a) x Converse with the 



" To drink well, is the property of a spunge, not of a man." De- 
mosthenes. 

" O ! what a monstrous sight is it to behold the table of some 
insatiable and rich glutton, furnished with variety of costly and 
delicate dishes ; himself surrounded with companions, who extol 
his gross work of wickedness, and feed his humor with vain talking, 
foolish jesting, and scurrility ." 

" If thou well observe 
The rule of ' not too much ; ' by temperance taught, 
In what thou eat'st and drink'st ; seeking from thence 
Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight, 
Till many years over thy head return : 
So may'st thou live, till, like ripe fruit, thou drop 
Into thy mother's lap ; or be with ease 
Gather'd, not harshly pluck'd ; for death mature." 

Paradise Lost, b. xi. 
In exact proportion as we recede from nature, we approach 
disease. 

1 " To follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is not to follow 

enthusiastic imaginations, but to be guided by that doctrine, which 

the Holy Ghost inspired the Apostles to teach ; and that we obey 

it in the practice of all moral and Christian virtues, which are the 

fruits of the Spirit:* (Gal. v. 22. Ephes. v. 9.) 

" To obey the Spirit now, is to obey his dictates as delivered to 
us in the inspired writings; and to be « a good man 7 is the only 
evidence of being full of the Holy Ghost: (Acts xi. 24.)" Clarke, 
Expos, of the Catech. 

Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and -with all thy soul, and with all thy mind : this is the 
first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou 
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments 

(a) 1 Cor. vii. 19. 2 Tim. ii. 14. 
Ch. Ma. P 



226 Ike Christian's Manual. 

holy Prophets, Christ, and Apostles ; contract, more especially, 
an intimacy with St. Paul. 

Brethren, farewell, dear to me at all times, but never more so, 
than when you pursue good. 



hang all the law and the prophets. Matt. xxii. 37-40. John xiii. 35. 
xiv. 21. Think on these things. Phil. iv. 8. For God shall bring 
every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good 
or whether it be evil. Eccles. xii. 14. 



jfintg. 



INDEX. 



A 

Absolution, form of Catholic, n. 128, and Dispensation 

price of, n. 129 
Adultery, punishment of, n. 2. 21 
Afflictions, are profitable, n. 1. 87. b. 1. 107. a. 187 
Ambition, reflection of Philip of Macedon upon, n. 1 3 
Atheism, arguments against, n. 2. 59 

B 
Baptism, obligations of, n. 1. 7. n. 3. 8. 83 : the mere ceremony 

does not constitute a Christian, b.l. 112 
Becket's shrine, xxi 
Belial, Satan called, a. 34? 
Bible, is our best book, n. 1. 31 
Body, only the receptacle of So*l, n. 1. 38 
Boxing, inhuman, n. 1. 141 
Brethren, who are our, n. 1. 20 
Brutes, mercy to, n. 14-2 

Ch. Ma. Q 



223 INDEX. 



c 

Card-playing for money censured, n. 1. 166 

Catholic, superstition, 115: confession, a. 1. 127 

Ceremonies, vanity of, without good works, 123 : if conducive 
to piety, and not inconsistent with the Gospel, to be con- 
formed to, g. 125. v 

Charity, enjoined, n.l. 20. r. 121. h. 161—167. 1. 213 

Chesterfield's Letters condemned, n. 135 

Children, not to obey wicked commands of parents, n. 1. 49 : 
to honor their parents, and cultivate domestic harmony, n. 1. 
138 

Christ, we must imitate, n. 1. 103 

Christians, a higher degree of virtue required from them, than 
the Jews under the Old Testament, n. 12. n. 1. 124. n. 1. 
183: nominal, n. 3. 8. n.l. 35: primitive, their exemplary 
deportment, n. 1. 104: strangers and pilgrims, n.l. 105: a 
good life is the only evidence of being a Christian, iii. n. 1 . 
225 

Church, or place of worship, reflections on behaviour at, n. 1. 
110 

Cock-fighting cruel, n. 142 

Confession of sins, n. 1. 127 

Conscience, eternal, n. 1. 41. c. 86 : cannot avoid, n. 1. 205 

Contemplation, n. 2. 105 

Contentment, n.l. 151. n.l. 197. n. 2. 213 

Contracts, all things should be discovered in, n. 1. 85 : immoral* 

not to be performed, n. 1. 174. n. 1. 185 
Controversies, religious, to be avoided, iv. xxxi. n. 9 1 
Conversation, pious recommended, n. 1. 90 
Credit, by false appearances, n. 94 
Cumberland, Bishop, n. 1. 161 



* INDEX. 229 



D 

Death, meditation on, recommended, xlii. n. 2. 43. 107 : pre- 
paration for, and against fears of, a. 1. 101 : excessive grief 
for the death of others not to be indulged, n. 1. 136 

Death-bed, of good, n. 75 

Debts, guilt of incurring, n* 1. 85 

Defects, personal, ungenerous to ridicule, n. 1. 106 

Deism, arguments against, 68 

Dissenters to be treated as brethren with mildness, iv: many 
have arisen from the neglect of the clergy of the established 
church, n. 171 

Duelling, an unchristian practice, n. 1. 156 

£ 

Enchiridion, account of, x : editions, xvii 

Enemies, love and pray for, a. 158 

Envy, n.2. 223 

Ethics described, n. 1. 44 

Even and odd, game of, n. 93 

Evil speaking, b. n. 2. 23. n. 1. 222 

Example, evil avoid, n. 2. 35. n. 1. 83 

Expenses, superfluous, to be retrenched to relieve the necessities 

of others, n. 1. 164 
Extravagance of relations or friends not to be supported, but 

the necessities of others to be relieved, n. 165 

F 

Fashion, vicious, not to be followed, n. 55 

Firmness, necessary, e. 35. c. 51 

Force, Heaven taken by, explained, n. 1. 18 

Franciscans, superstition of, n. 1. 112 

Friends are only to be assisted by fair means, n. 2. 89 

Funeral pomp vain, n. 137 



230 INDEX.* 

G 

Gaming, vicious, n. 1. 166 

Geo. III. anecdote of, n. 182 

Giglis, John, power from the Pope to pardon all crimes, n. 129 

God, not the author of the evils of life, n. 3 : his omniscience, 

n.2. 18 
Government, to consider nothing that is morally wrong, to be 

politically right, n. 16 : civil ordained by God, n. 176 : the 

end of, is the benefit of the people, n. 181 
Grace should be said before meals, n. 1. 88 

H 

Holbein, anecdote of, xxxviii 

Honest man, n. 1. 85. n. 186 

Honor, true, n. 3. 216 

Humility, n. 1. 218 

Husband and wife, duties of, n. 1. 50 

I 

Idolatry, n. 97 * 

Indulgences censured, n. 1 30 

Inquiries, metaphysical, mischievous, n. 3. 90 

Intemperance, n. 3. 224? 

J 

Jones, Sir William, opinion of scriptures, n. 30 
Judgment, last, n. 1. 201 
Just, be, before liberal, n. 1. 85 

K 

Kings, their duty, 173—182 

Knavery, what, n. 93 

Knowledge of Scriptures necessary, a./. 27 



INDEX. 231 

L 

Law, oppression by the letter of, villainous, n. 95: of nations, 

n. 15: of nature, n. 1. 185 
Learning, vanity and insufficiency of human, n. 1. 31 : the only 

benefit of, is our improvement, n. 2. 90 
Life, uncertain, n. 2. 81. 206 
Lord's day, how to observe, n. 1. 126 
Loyola, account of, n. 1. xviii 
Lying, defined, n. 93 

M 
Magistrates, duty of, n.2. 173 

Man, created perfect, n. 1. 198: excellency of his nature, ib. 
Martyrs, courage of, n. 1. 77 
Masquerades, destructive to morals, n. 135 
Masters and servants, relative duties of, n. 3. 153 
Ministers of the Gospel to be reverenced and supported : ad- 
mitted improperly: their duty, 169 
Meditation, n. 1, 28. n. 50 
Miracles, c. 2. 77 

Monasteries, origin of, n. 99 : sentiments of Erasmus on, xxviii 
Money, bad, negociating, n. 95 
More, death and character of, xx xviii 

N 
Nobility, true and false, 148—150 

O 

Officers, public, their duty, n. 1. 173: should be appointed 
for their merit, not riches, n. 3. 1 74 

P 

Papists, admonition to, and exposure of errors, n. 1 . 95 
Paraphrase of New Testament by Erasmus, adopted, xxxiv * 
Parents, their duty, n. 1. 133. n. 1. 138: not to indulge chil- 
dren, n.2. 153 



232 



INDEX. 



Passion, not to be governed by, ib. n. 5. 1. 40 : hurries us into 
vice, 47 

Patience, n. 1. 25. n. 190 

Philanthropy, n. 14. n. 1. 161. n. 2. 162 

Philosophers, ancient, error of, 34: Stoic, vain, n. 1. 42 : un- 
able to reform mankind, n. 73 

Plays, many improper to be read, n. 147 

Pleasure, not to be purchased at expense of our duty, n. 1. 152 

Plough, parable of, n. 2. 57 

Poetry, licentious, corrupts the morals, 134 

Politeness, true, springs from charity, n. 135 

Popes, Erasmus 5 remarks on, n. 1. 100 

Prayer, n. 1. 27 

Pride, n. 1. 214 

Printing, invention of, n. i 

Procrastination, dangerous, c, 81 

Prodigality is criminal, n. 1. 85 

Prophesies fulfilled, a. 78 

Prudence, true, 159 

Psalms, meditation on, n. 3. 152 

Punishment of wicked, a. 79 



R 

Relapse, n. 1. 207 

Religion, should be the end of all our endeavours, n. 32 

Repentance, n. 127. n. 1. 196 

Resignation, n. 2. 87. n. 2. 187 

Revelation, necessity and expectation of, acknowledged by an- 
cient philosophers, n. 70 

Revenge, detestable, 167 

Rewards, eternal, and punishments believed by the heathens, 
n. 205 

Robberies, numerous in the reign of Henry VIII. xxi 

Rochester, Earl of, conversion, n. 75 

Riches, danger of, n. 2. 214 






INDEX. 233 

s 

Sacraments, Catholic, n. 1. 127 

Salt, have lost his savour, explained, n. 1. c. 1 17 

Schools, for education of the poor to be encouraged, n. 1. 122 

Scorners, will be laughed at by God, b. 36 

Scriptures, exhortation to study, n. 1. 28 : impartially, b. n. 1. 
29. n. 1. 52: translations of, xxxii: the unerring touch- 
stone of all doctrines, v 

Self-love, true and benevolence the same, n. 1. 153 — 155 

Servants, see masters 

Sickness, sweating, xxx 

Sidney, Sir Philip, humanity, n. 1. 89 

Sin, original, n. 1. 54 

Singularity, reproaches for, not to terrify us from our duty, n. 1. 79 

Sins, pardon for, none without true repentance and amend- 
ment, n. 127 

Smuggling, immoral, n. 94- 

Smythwick, Wm. indulgence to, and any five of his friends, n. 
129 

Socrates, sublime moralist, n. 1. 43 

Soldiers should prepare for death and future judgment, n. 2. 
110. (*) 203 

Solitude, n. 2. 105 

Somabarre, nobility of, brand their faces with hot iron, as a 
mark of honor, n. 1. 23 

Songs, loose and indelicate, very mischievous, n. 2. 133 

Soul, immortality of, n. 61. 64-66 

Subjects, their duty, n. ]. 176 

Suicide, caution against, n. 188 

Swearing, profane, a. n. 2. 23 

T 

Talking, obscene, n. 1. 223 

Taxes, evasion of, a fraud, n. 94 

Testament, old, many parts of are declarative of the moral law, 

and therefore of universal obligation, n. 2. 21 
Theatres, their irreligious and immoral tendency, n. 2. 143 



234 INDEX. 

Trade not prohibited, but only covetousness, n. 2. 92 : custom 
has introduced many frauds into, ib. n* 3 2 all deception and 
imposition should be banished from, n. 1. 159 

Trinity, remarks of Erasmus on, n. 91 

Tyndale, Wm, account of, xvi : his New Testament, xxxii 

V 

Virtue, or holiness described, n. 1. 56, n. 1. 139. n.2. 140 : 
to be chosen for its own sake, n. 85 : not the chief good, but 
the means to it, n. 1. 89 : more valuable than life,n. 1. 147 

Vulgar, not to be imitated, n. 1. 2. 140 

W 

War, immorality of ambitious, n. 2. 10 

Warfare, life, a. 1 

Warham, death and character of, xxxvi 

Warwick, Lord, Addison's admonition to, n. 75 

Ways, but two, one to life eternal, the other to destruction, 
g. 82 

Wealth, not to be adored, a. 92 

Wicked, are as dead, n. 1. 21 : glory in their shame, n. 1. 23 : 
become reprobate, n. 1. 208 

William the Conqueror, remorse for his wars, n. 13 : his fune- 
ral obsequies neglected, n. 3. 175 

Wisdom, false, b. 35 : true, //. 36 : better than science, n. 1. 160 

Wolsey, his lamentation, n. 107 

World, not to be conformed to, n. 3. 4. n. 1. 82 : opinion of, 
not to deter from our duty, n. 2. 49 









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